You’ll be the audience facing the stage of this balletic novel: ARABESQUE, historical fiction, with a dash of intrigue, mystery by Author M G da Mota book tour & giveaway

 

ARABESQUE

by M G da Mota

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GENRE: historical psychological drama

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BLURB:

A woman living alone in a coastal Sussex town in 1998 plants a copper beech sapling at 3 a.m. on a dark, cold night. Why?

A ballet dancer in 1960s East Germany is oppressed, longs for escaping with his little daughter but not his wife. Why? Will he make it?

In 2022 Karsten von Stein, widower and principal of the Royal Ballet, with two young children, meets Ivone Benjamim, a Portuguese, newly-arrived principal dancer. They discover a magical chemistry when dancing and soon it transfers to their private lives.

Against the background of ballet and its dancers, a woman called Grace tells her story from a rehab centre. Obsessive, delusional she begins believing Ivone robbed her of the man of her dreams—Karsten. And then a skeleton is found in a garden...What connects all these people and their stories?

You’ll be the audience facing the stage of this balletic novel.

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EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT

‘Karsten? You ready?’

‘Yes, Ivone,’ he replies, recognising the voice of new Royal Ballet principal Ivone Benjamim.

They are performing together for the first time. The management of the opera house has been publicising their new partnership as a great event given their various though separate award-winning performances and impressive careers so far. Much has been written and said about it in the media. Both he and Ivone had to record interviews, explaining how they enjoy rehearsing and believe there is chemistry between them when dancing together.

It's actually true. Karsten instantly liked her. Ivone is from Portugal. Born to a single mother who cleaned for a living, she was enrolled in ballet at the age of five. Someone recommended it as a good occupation for a little girl. Her mother decided it would keep Ivone out of trouble after school while she was working. Ivone fell in love with it. Scholarships to the National Conservatoire in Lisbon, later to the Royal Ballet school followed and, after a three-year stint in Italy as a lead soloist at the famous La Scala plus one year back in her home country, Ivone has now returned to the Royal Ballet as a principal. 

She is a few months older than Karsten; a vivacious, warm woman with chestnut hair, hazel eyes and a smile that can light up a room. There’s something special between the two of them, naturally in tune as if they have danced together all their lives. 

They like each other from the first moment. Her warmth and sincerity attract him. Karsten feels at ease with her. She seems comfortable with him. Such harmony and chemistry show through during rehearsals. Karsten believes it will too during the performance. He thinks himself lucky to be Ivone’s partner for the present production of Swan Lake. 

Karsten opens the door of his dressing-room and smiles at her. Ivone looks luminous. He gives her a brotherly kiss on the cheek and together they go into the studio, beginning with exercises at the barre. Slow and gentle at first so the muscles can warm up gradually, they spend almost half an hour exercising in unison. Then, Karsten walks to the middle of the room.

He looks at his image in the mirror. Plié. First position. Second. Third. Fourth. Fifth. Pirouette. Arabesque. Pirouette. Attitude. Jeté. Arabesque. Ciseaux. Again. From the start. Then glissade, grand-jeté with arabesque landing. Pirouette. Entrechats quatre. Pirouette and finish with a flurry and a knee on the floor. Good. Again from the beginning. Ivone joins him. Without giving their all, to save their bodies for the performance at 7.00 p.m., they execute several steps from sections of the evening’s ballet.

Karsten has danced Prince Siegfried in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake before but not this particular production and not with Ivone. He is happy to be the Prince in the opening night to Ivone’s first ever Odette—the enchanting Swan Princess—and Odile, the Black Swan, malicious daughter in disguise of the evil wizard Rothbart. Karsten isn’t nervous per se but he often experiences pre-premiere jitters. He pauses for a moment, grabs a towel and wipes his face. It glistens from a sheen of perspiration shining in the studio lights.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

M G da Mota is Margarida Mota-Bull’s pen name for fiction. She is a Portuguese-British novelist with a love for classical music, ballet and opera. Under her real name she also writes reviews of live concerts, CDs, DVDs and books for two classical music magazines on the web: MusicWeb International and Seen and Heard International. She is a member of the UK Society of Authors, speaks four languages and lives in Sussex with her husband. Her website, called flowingprose.com, contains photos and information.

LINK WHERE BOOK IS SOLD:

Amazon UK : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arabesque-M-G-Mota-ebook/dp/B0D7CMSD5F/

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Arabesque-M-G-Mota-ebook/dp/B0D7CMSD5F/

Website: https://www.flowingprose.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/m.g.da.mota

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mgdamota/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margarida-mota-bull/

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GIVEAWAY

The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

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