Hester's story - Adele Geras

Hester Fielding was once the leading ballerina of her day. Her life is the stuff of drama: a bleak Yorkshire childhood transformed by the discovery of her amazing gifts as a dancer; a dangerous love affair that can only lead to heartbreak; and a secret that would topple her from her pinnacle of fame if it ever came out.

Now Hester has returned to Yorkshire, to Wychwood where, each year at Christmas, a ballet is performed on Twelfth Night in the little theatre there. This year, the brilliant young choreographer Hugo Carradine has been invited to direct the ballet Sarabande. Claudia Drake is Hugo's lover and the ballet's star - every inch a prima ballerina in style, but is she just a little past her best? Snapping at her satin-clad heels is Silver McConnell, ten years younger and an outstanding talent, some say the next Hester Fielding. Just before the company arrives at Wychwood, Hester receives a phone call that brings back memories that haunt her. As the dancers prepare for the opening night of Sarabande, and loyalties shift and tempers flare, the past comes crashing into the present in ways that Hester could never have predicted.