Introduction

Late spring 1945, London: The war in Europe is over. But for Briar Woods, a dancer at Sadler’s Wells Ballet, the past resurfaces and she must come face to face with the truth. It feels as though her war has only just begun.

Since 1939, Rosamund Caradon had taken in many children from Britain’s bombarded cities, sheltering them in her Devonshire manor. Now, with Germany’s surrender, she is en route to London to return the last evacuees, accompanied by her dance-obsessed daughter Jasmine. Rosamund vows to protect Jasmine from any peril, but a chance meeting with a Sadler’s Wells dancer changes everything. When the beautiful, elusive Briar Woods bursts into Rosamund’s train carriage, it’s clear her sights are set on the captivated Jasmine. As Briar sets out to charm them both, Rosamund cannot shake the eerie feeling this accidental encounter isn’t what it seems. While Briar may be far away from the pointe shoes and greasepaint of The Sleeping Beauty ballet rehearsals, her performance for Rosamund might just be her most successful yet. A dance that could turn deadly . . .

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Excerpt

January 1946
I do not visit Gittisham Manor after Christmas. Every morning when I wake, I think about going there, imagining what would happen if I appeared at that heavy oak door and confronted Rosamund. I plan every word of the conversation, my courage, how I will admonish her for the way she keeps Jasmine hidden away from the world. A princess in a tower. But every time I come downstairs to breakfast, I change my mind. Mother will be sketching new designs at the kitchen table or embroidering details onto a hat, tiny lilac petals scattered in silk across the wooden surface. Father will be mumbling into his newspaper, calling out crossword clues every few minutes which Mother answers without looking up. If I take Jasmine now, I will have to leave all this behind. They won’t understand, not yet. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

1. Rosamund and Briar’s war years were very different: Rosamund took in evacuees, while Briar toured with Sadler’s Wells Ballet company. What did you think about their attitudes to their own and each other’s work during the war?

2. Elements of the fairy tale of the sleeping beauty appear in many ways throughout the novel. For example, awakening from a long curse as a metaphor for the end of the war; the transitional stages of growing up reflected in sleeping and waking; the house in Devon surrounded by a forest; the ballet performances of The Sleeping Princess in 1939 and The Sleeping Beauty in 1946. Were there any sleeping beauty moments that resonated with you most strongly?

3. Briar, Martha and Vivian are close friends, but their friendship changes as the novel develops. What do you think led to those changes, and how might some of the conflicts between them have been avoided?


4. Briar’s determination to atone for what she felt were her mistakes before and during the war takes her down a dangerous path. She starts to lose her grip on reality, as well as her understanding of right and wrong. How did you react to her actions and the decisions that she made?

5. Both this novel and the ballet of The Sleeping Beauty explore motherhood. In the ballet we have the queen, the fairy godmothers, the evil fairy Carabosse. In the novel, there are Alice, Rosamund, Briar, Beatrice, as well as some ‘ballet mothers’. What was your impression of the different types of mothers and ways of being a mother in the novel?

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