Principal Rôle

Principal Rôle was an impulse buy -- I have a weakness for Lorna Hill's Sadler's Wells ballet series, and this one, along with Dancer in the Wings, were a couple of titles I hadn't come across before, and I couldn't resist. This one is from 1957, and honestly, it barely qualifies as a ballet book! The ballet element is quite tangential. The story centres on fifteen year old (not eighteen, as the cover blurb claims) Princess Fazia of the imaginary kingdom of Slavonia, capital Drobnik, which all sounds quite Yugoslavian, except that it's vaguely nestled in the Alps somewhere. Anyway, it's been overthrown by Communists and her brother Leo is king in exile. So far, so Eva Ibbotson, and this novel shows that fascination with the Alps which was current in the early 20th century.

In fact, it's King Leo who is really keen on ballet, particularly one ballerina. We're told that though Fazia is an incredible dancer, she's not really that interested; and her young governess Elizabeth Lister, whose viewpoint we share in the first part of the book, did ballet at school but is far from professional standard. The story veers around quite wildly and comes to a screaming climax with one character catching on fire, a hospital bedside proposal, an assassination (off screen) and (spoiler) Princess Fazia assuming her Principal Rôle as... Queen of Slavonia (weirdly no one seems particularly worried that she might be assassinated).

I don't regret this purchase and it has a very pretty cover, but it's a very slight piece of work! My expectations for Dancer in the Wings are now quite low.