Bluebird; Pub Date Sept 2026

It’s 1991; at a Russian ballet school, ballet is everything – beauty, perfection, endurance, sacrifice … When Dublin girls Hope and Emily are chosen to study at the famous Pavlovgrad Ballet School, they think all their dreams have come true, but the challenges they face will be harder than they could ever imagine.

Daily life in the Soviet Union is like stepping into another world – freezing winters, sugar shortages, boarding at school with the other ballet students – but the chance to learn from the best, and the chance to become the best, makes all the sacrifice worthwhile. Or does it? For Hope, adopted from Russia as a baby, returning to the country of her birth to fulfil her dream of becoming a ballerina uncovers secrets buried deep….