Nocturne

by Alyssa Wees

Overall: In music, a nocturne is a short work evocative of night, and that’s exactly what the reader gets with this fantasy. Grace Dragotta lives in a boardinghouse in Chicago during the Great Depression and spends nearly every waking hour dancing in the Near North Ballet company.  Her best friend Emilia, soon to be married, is the ballet’s prima ballerina, and Grace is chosen to be her replacement. But she soon finds out that this choice may not have been due to the ballet mistress’s appreciation of her talents, but rather the intervention of a mysterious patron named Master La Rosa, who is keeping the struggling company afloat. As Grace’s life becomes more entwined with La Rosa’s, the gothic fantasy elements of the book blossom darkly.

Likes: Nocturne contains many gothic and fairytale elements that are sure to please fans of those genres: a mysterious missing girl, a haunted house full of mirrors that only show the dead, a dancer who must perform endlessly despite her bleeding feet, a man who may be a beast, doorways to other realms. The fantasy world that Grace enters is beautifully rendered and creative. I enjoyed getting bits and pieces of Grace’s backstory, which tied in nicely to the rest of the plot. And Grace and Emilia, the friends at the heart of the book, are strong, independent women, who know that love should enhance and not erase their individuality.

Dislikes: the middle section of the book was a bit slow for me, as well as heavy on the romantic elements (not my cup of tea but may be yours!).  At times (particularly at the end) the story seemed to cross over from fantasy to allegory, which I didn’t mind, but which may feel awkward or heavy-handed to some readers. The writing style is highly descriptive − I mostly found it quite enjoyable but occasionally thought it weighed down the narrative.

FYI: death of family members, death of friend, murder, chronic illness, fantasy monsters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for my advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.