Outside the Limelight

Named a Best Book of 2017 by

Kirkus Reviews

Rising ballet star Dena Lindgren's dream career is knocked off its axis when a puzzling onstage fall results in a crushing diagnosis: a brain tumor. Complications from the extraction surgery kick off a long and difficult recovery, prompting the company’s artistic director, Anders Gunst, to shift his attention to an overshadowed company dancer -- Dena's older sister, Rebecca, with whom Anders once shared a special relationship.Under the heady glow of Anders’ attention, Rebecca thrives, even as her sister languishes. While Dena’s strength returns, residual facial paralysis sidelines her indefinitely, amid a world that demands beauty and perfection. Rebecca soon faces a painful choice: play by the artistic director’s rules and profit, or take shocking action to help her sister. Exposing the glamorous onstage world of professional ballet, as well as its shadowed wings and dark underbelly, OUTSIDE THE LIMELIGHT examines loyalty, beauty, artistic passion, and asks what might be worth losing in order to help the ones you love.