Ballerina cover art

Ballerina

A Novel

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Ballerina

By: Edward Stewart
Narrated by: Angela Goethals
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £25.99

Buy Now for £25.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Before Black Swan, there was Ballerina: Edward Stewart’s acclaimed novel that follows two young women into the cutthroat world of professional dance.

Stephanie Lang and Christine Avery meet in ballet school. Although they share the same dream - to become great dancers - they could not be more different. Ballet is in Stephanie’s blood; her mother, Anna, is a former dancer who lives to see her daughter achieve the fame she herself never attained. Christine has lived a sheltered life, secure in the love of her family. But her privileged upbringing conceals a devastating secret.

Two teenage dancers, one chance to make it. From the thrill and terror of auditions through years of meticulous training to landing a coveted spot in a professional company, Stephanie and Christine relentlessly pursue their ambitions. As they give their all to dance, they become inseparable - until they are torn apart by their passion for the same man, a brilliant Russian dancer whose seductive, mercurial temperament will have unforeseen consequences for them all.

©1978, 1979 Edward Stewart (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
Coming of Age Psychological Fiction
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

For Richer, For Poorer cover art
The Ballerinas cover art
The Man I Love cover art
Mireille cover art
Mambo in Chinatown cover art
Charmingly Yours cover art
Three Women cover art
The Law of Tall Girls cover art
The Billionaire's Assistant cover art
Iron Cast cover art
A Thousand Doors cover art
Bellweather Rhapsody cover art
Super Dark 1 cover art
Dance of Shadows cover art
The Air You Breathe cover art
The Billionaire's Fake Girlfriend cover art

What listeners say about Ballerina

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    24
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    27
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb

Very engaging. Found the descriptions of the ballet performances amazing. Such detail and the descriptions really brought it all to life. Very good at character development. However I found the personalities or lack thereof of Stephanie and Christine a bit hard to take. so passive and driving minuted in their relationships with men. I felt the story went on a bit long and the end was a bit hard to believe. Overall an enjoyable experience, though!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

OMG! What have I just listened to?

I felt so caught up in this book, it was like living another life! I now know what it's like to be a Dancer, and Ballerina. This is one of the most BRILLIANT books I've ever listened to!
Pure, beautiful and Magickal. Thank you .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

How had I never heard of this book?! So gripping, can’t believe it’s included with membership. Such good story, brilliant narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Tedious beginning and middle.

I didn’t think I would get through this to the end. It was slow and ponderous. Redeemed only by the last chapters. Was I glad to have listened to it? No. Can’t recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Reads like a drama series on telly

Wonderfully drama packed. Besides the attempt at danish accents, the narrator conveyed the story beautifully

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing book

I’m crying finishing it, what a fantastic book, I have no clue about ballet and absolutely loved it. I loved how we found out the story of many of the characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ideal for ballet mad teenagers…

A highly predictable tale of two friends, each with monster mother. Undeveloped characters in unrealistic situations. An undemanding beach read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Ballerina

This is AWFUL!!!
I cannot understand the rave reviews here and on Goodreads.
I have this annoying thing about finishing books I start so I now know that the Audible speed limit is x3.5 - I wanted to increase it more but it wouldn't let me.
The story is just so very, very BORING!
The characters themselves and the relationships and interactions between them are wooden, contrived and unbelievable.

There are tons of things that bothered me about the plot but I think the one that annoyed me the most was the fact that Chris had a very serious, rare condition and at the beginning we're led to believe that her parents worry about her a lot and are most concerned with her health.
Then without much consideration they allow her to move in with a stranger and are pretty much never in her life again. They don't really seem to visit or speak on phone or check in about her health or anything at all. And actually the reasons they had for not supporting dance, along with the reasons for letting her live with a stranger (she's not good enough to make it as a dancer) are beyond ridiculous.

Poor writing, stilted dialogue. Very poorly put together. The sentences throughout are short and clipped which is really jarring. And it's WAY too long - It just goes on and on and on and I just wanted to bash my head on the wall for most of the time I was listening to it.
There is literally nothing redeeming about this book. The worst book I've read/listened to in months.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful