From the Bookshelf of Aussie Readers…

The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers

Kerri Turner

Start date: January 1, 2021

Finish date: January 31, 2021

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Dec 23, 2018 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-authors, net-galley, 5000-books, read-on-kindle, 2019-release, arc, historical-fiction, own-read, debut

It was 1914 in Petrograd and Luka Zhirkov was nervous as he walked into the rehearsal room. His lifelong dream had always been to dance. Now he’d been given the chance to dance with Romanov’s Imperial Russian Ballet and he knew that he could go far if he was accepted. His awe at the beauty and talent of Valentina Yershova when he first saw her was such that his desire to dance as her partner one day was foremost in his mind.

Valentina was one of the many who had a protector – a man who would own ...more

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Jan 27, 2021 Kim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 Read as part of the Australian Reading Group.
I love a bit of Ballet Russe, having seen their costumes from the 1910s in exhibits and I've done my fair share of childhood Ballet classes, forms some of my first memories, I think I was 4 when I started. I still have my Margot Fonteyn book I was given when I was 7.
So I was keen to read this Australian author's take on the Russian Ballet dancers caught up in the turbulent time of The Russian revolution.
The story is handled well, is entertaining ...more

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Jan 15, 2021 Kathryn rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, australian-authors, 2021-reading-list, 2021-aty

The ending was good, but it was a bit dense on ballet terms throughout the book and that, combined with characters I found it a bit difficult to feel much empathy for. Luka was nice enough, but Valentina was hard to like. The pace of the story was also a bit slow, which made it hard to get into, however that did pick up at the end.

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Nov 12, 2018 Nicki Markus rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-historical

The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers is a sweeping story that offers a tantalising view of the revolution through the eyes of people caught between the two camps. I particularly loved the way Turner brought the world of the ballet to life; it's easy to tell that she is a dancer herself from her lovely descriptions during those scenes. The love story didn't always work for me. I had trouble seeing Luka and Valentina as a workable couple at times. They didn't feel a natural 'fit' to me. But in all ...more

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