In-Person Author Talk: Lucy Ashe and Kara Tatelbaum, at Riverside Library, NYPL

Saturday, February 8, 2025, 3.00 PM - 4:30 PM

Link to the event on the NYPL website here

This is an in-person program. Author Lucy Ashe joins us to talk about her latest novel, the historical mystery The Sleeping Beauties. She will be in conversation with dance memoirist, Kara Tatelbaum, author of Putting My Heels Down.  

 Selected by Library Journal as a highly anticipated book of 2024, The Sleeping Beauties is a novel about mothers and daughters, and the work of the real ballet company, Sadler’s Wells, during World War Two. While Briar Woods is preparing to dance in the production of The Sleeping Beauty that re-opened the Royal Opera House in London after the war, it seems that the darkest versions of this ancient fairy tale are threatening to come true. The novel is inspired by Ashe’s experiences as a dancer – she trained at the Royal Ballet School in London before changing career paths and becoming an English teacher. Her debut novel The Dance of the Dolls was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger 2024 and is a historical thriller set in pre-war London, described by Publishers Weekly as a novel that moves between ‘charming slice of historical fiction to pulse-pounding suspense at an expert pace.’ Ashe conducted much of her research for The Sleeping Beauties by using the dance collection in the NYPL for the Performing Arts.

 Kara Tatelbaum brings a different approach to her experiences through the honesty and power of memoir. Putting My Heels Down, described by LA Dance Chronicle as ‘compelling and universal’, exposes the harsh reality of life as a dancer, as well the conflict so many of us experience of having a day job and having a dream. You won’t need to know about pliés to relate.

 Join us for this in-person event at the Riverside Library on Saturday 8th February 2025 at 3pm.