Length13h 5m
About this audiobook
"Engrossing historical fiction…A touching, thrilling heartbreak for any reader.” --USA Today
This stunning debut novel set in the fascinating world of Cold War Soviet ballet follows the fates of twin sisters whose bond is competitive, complicated, but never broken.
Maya and Natasha are twin sisters born in the midst of the Siege of Leningrad in 1941 and immediately abandoned by their mother, a prima ballerina at the Kirov Ballet who would rather die than not dance. Taken in by their mother’s best friend at the Kirov, the girls are raised to be dancers themselves. The Vaganova Ballet Academy—and the totalitarian Soviet regime—is the only world they know.
In 1958, now seniors at the Vaganova at the height of the Cold War, all Maya and Natasha and their classmates want is to dance with the Kirov, and to join the company on its tour to America next year. But a new law from the Kremlin upends Maya and Natasha’s lives: due to fears of defection, family members may no longer travel abroad together. The Kirov can only accept one of them.
Maya, long accustomed to living in her sister’s shadow, accepts her bitter fate, until a new dance partner inspires her to dream bigger and practice harder. For the first time—and at the cruelest possible moment—the sisters are equally matched. And then one sister betrays the other, altering their lives forever and splitting them in two, though neither will stray far from the other’s orbit.
As one of the twins pursues her ballet career and experiences a world outside Russia for the first time, the other is cast in an epic film adaptation of War and Peace, produced and financed by the Soviet State. As the Cold War heats up, Maya and Natasha must confront their loyalties: to East versus West; to the government that saved them versus their dreams of freedom; and, always, to each other.
Audiobook details
GenreHistorical Fiction, General Fiction
Length13 hrs 5 mins
Narrated byYelena Shmulenson
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateFeb 18, 2025
LanguageEnglish
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m$53 · $0.00
MusashiEiji Yoshikawa53h 20m$30
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m$33 · $0.00
Their Castilian OrphanAnna Belfrage14h 45m$27
With Fire and Sword, The Deluge & Pan MichaelHenryk Sienkiewicz113h 5m$1 · $0.00
The Complete 13 Novels & longer fiction: Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Black Arrow, Kidnapped, The Master of Ballantrae, The Wrong Box and more...Robert Louis Stevenson106h 29m$1 · $0.00
Eagles over BritainLee Jackson12h 26m$23
Rilla of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery11h 44m$2 · $0.00
The Viennese DressmakerKathryn Gauci11h 46m$23 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m$33 · $0.00
Under the Light of the Italian MoonJennifer Anton12h 28m$23 · $0.00
THE COMPLETE PALLISER NOVELS (All 6 Novels in One Edition)Anthony Trollope172h 46m$2 · $0.00
Jubilee, 50th Anniversary EditionMargaret Walker15h 43m$25 · $0.00
Arch of TriumphErich Maria Remarque15h 51m$28
Serenade for NadiaZülfü Livaneli9h 9m$20
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen14h 44m$2 · $0.00
Zane Grey - Ultimate Collection: 60+ Western Classics, Historical Novels & Baseball StoriesZane Grey568h 56m$1 · $0.00
Les MisérablesVictor Hugo64h 17m$1 · $0.00
Between Two WorldsUpton Sinclair31h 43m$30
Under the Java MoonHeather B. Moore12h 23m$23
Hell Divers XII: HeroesNicholas Sansbury Smith13h 18m$27
EmberJeffrey Wilson, Brian Andrews13h 58m$23
The Complete Works of Jane Austen (Unabridged)Jane Austen88h 8m5 (1)$1 · $0.00
Desperate MeasuresBrenda Jackson8h 59m$28 · $0.00
Shōgun, Part TwoJames Clavell29h 16m$40
Showdown in the Big EasyCharles Tillman, Michael Anderle, Martha Carr7h 37m$23
Searching For ThanksgivingS.E. Smith4h 24m$20
Naughty 4Brenda Hampton7h 30m$17
The Dance with Me TrilogyShelley Shepard Gray21h 44m$35
Anne Shirley (Complete 14 Book Collection)Lucy Maud Montgomery126h 16m$2 · $0.00
The DopemanJaQuavis Coleman5h 25m$20
Sherlock Holmes: The Ultimate CollectionArthur Conan Doyle59h 49m$5 · $0.00
My Favorite Husband, Vol. 1Hollywood 360, CBS Radio5h 40m$14
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.2 (5)$29 · $0.00
Grand Opening 2Carl Weber9h 16m$20
Sons of Valor II: Violence of ActionBrian Andrews, Jeffrey Wilson12h 34m$23
Malevolent MagicMildred Abbott7h 13m$17
Look TwiceEva Hudson9h 48m$20
Bikes, Toys, and Hot BoyzGenesis Woods, Shantaé13h 9m$23
The Natchez Burning TrilogyGreg Iles96h 18m$53 · $0.00
You may also like
Family ReinsBilly Busch6h 42m$17
Gulmore, the BossFrank Harris2h 4m$2 · $0.00
The DeceptionsJill Bialosky7h 58m$20 · $0.00
A People’s Guide to the End of LifeA. Joseph Layon MD3h 35m$15
Action!Robert Cort14h 19m$25 · $0.00
Harvesting RosewaterParia Hassouri8h 48m$25 · $0.00
The DescendantsKaui Hart Hemmings9h 9m$26
This Could HurtJillian Medoff12h 53m$33 · $0.00
Man in ArmourSiobhan McKenna11h 10m$29 · $0.00
Everybody's SonThrity Umrigar10h 38m$29 · $0.00
City of a Thousand GatesBee Sacks13h 49m$33 · $0.00
Too dearly bought; or, The town strikeAgnes Giberne2h 38m$2 · $0.00
The Silver SpoonJohn Galsworthy9h 41m$20
Sure of YouArmistead Maupin3h$18 · $0.00
CoventryRachel Cusk7h 30m$17
A God in RuinsLeon Uris6h 6m$24 · $0.00
The Complex | Award-winning author of The Association of Small Bombs returns with a new novelKaran Mahajan15h 25m$26 · $0.00
Sex Cult NunFaith Jones13h 11m$33 · $0.00
The BelieversZoe Heller10h 32m$29 · $0.00
Cult TripAnke Richter9h 34m$29 · $0.00