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BRADY**, JOAN: : PROLOGUE: AN UNCONVENTIONAL LIFE. [Author SIGNED copy.]

LONDON.ANDRE DEUTSCH,1994.

ISBN 023398884X.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn thus.[First revised edition,UK 1st edn,previously published in USA,by Harper & Row,1982,as 'The Unmaking of a Dancer.'] FINE/VG+.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip to dw/dj, but author's neat,handwritten black ink signature - without dedication - to title page.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated b/w author portrait photographic upper wrap with silver gilt lettering,b/w lettered critics' reviews to rear wrap; with negligible shelf-wear to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present - and minimal creasing to both top+bottom edges of dw/dj.Both head+foot of spine/backstrip minisculely bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top+fore-edges generally,bright and clean,contents bright,tight and clean also - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - possibly unread? Publisher's original,plain black cloth bds with bright,crisp,stamped silver gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white eps.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn,3-213pp [paginated] includes Pts 1-3 comprising 10,8,and 4 chapters respectively,and an afterword; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages, acknowledgements and a dedication. All writers' pasts are prologue to publication,but few are so dramatic as this unconventional life,which began not in literature but in the cloistered world of professional ballet. Joan Brady grew up in California,the daughter of a black-listed economics professor and his strong-willed,brilliant, powerfully jealous and ultimately vengeful wife. Dancing lessons took Joan away from the tensions between these two,and she turned out to be extremely gifted.By the time she was twenty,she was dancing with the most important ballet company in the Western world,George Balanchine's New York City Ballet,then at the height of its artistic powers. At the crucial moment,Joan lost her confidence and so her chance at stardom. Dance had taught her discipline,technique, elegance and courage.Now she needed all these qualities to fight her mother,whose vengeance had destroyed her prospects,and to claim for herself the love of Dexter Masters,whom her mother had coveted for years. Joan Brady won her man,a university degree,a happy marriage,and a new life in England.She had a son.Then after years away from the excruciating physical demands of ballet,she decided to try again.At thirty-eight,she undertook an astonishing retraining programme and began the journey back to performance level and another chance - to take if she wished. The pages of this book are peopled with characters - many famous,some unknown - so powerful that they leap off the page.Joan Brady writes with exhilarating honesty of growing up,of the emotional and physical intensity of a dancer's life,and so - with ballet as allegory - of life itself: its elations,exhaustions,contradictions and despairs.This is a fierce and moving autobiography. It is also a testament to the reality of dreams that come true.Now she lives alone in Devon,but is working on a 3rd novel. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact seller,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item, for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn.
Author SIGNED - without dedication.

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