[]
Dancing on Knives
  • Published: 2 June 2014
  • ISBN: 9780857983473
  • Imprint: Random House Australia
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

Dancing on Knives

Formats & editions
EBook
2 June 2014
Tr. Paperback
2 June 2014
Buy from…
Amazon Apple Books Google Play Kobo Booktopia eBooks.com

A damaged family and their generations of dangerous secrets

A damaged family and their generations of dangerous secrets

At twenty, Sara is tormented by terror so profound she hasn’t left her home in five years. Like the mermaid in the fairytale her Spanish grandmother once told her, Sara imagines she is dancing on knives. She feels suffocated by her family, especially her father – the famous artist Augusto Sanchez – whose volcanic passions dominate their lives.

Then one stormy night, her father does not come home. His body is found dangling from a cliff face. Astonishingly, he is still alive, but the mystery of his fall can only be solved by the revelation of long-held family secrets.

At once a suspenseful murder mystery and a lyrical love story, Dancing on Knives is about how family can constrict and liberate us, how art can be both joyous and destructive, and how strength can be found in the unlikeliest places.

  • Published: 2 June 2014
  • ISBN: 9780857983473
  • Imprint: Random House Australia
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320
Categories:

About the author

Kate Forsyth

Kate Forsyth is an award-winning author and oral storyteller who grew up on tales of Scottish history and folklore told by her grandmother and great-aunts. Her books include Psykhe, a feminist reimagining of the ancient Greek myth; Bitter Greens, a retelling of Rapunzel which won the American Library Association award for Best Historical Fiction; and The Witches of Eileanan, a dark romantic fantasy which was named one of the Best First Novels by Locus. Kate has a Doctorate of Creative Arts in fairy tale studies, and runs writing retreats and literary tours in Greece, the Cotswolds and Scotland. She has sold more than 1.5 million books in twenty languages.

portrait photo of Kate Forsyth

Also by Kate Forsyth

The Blue Rose
The Beast's Garden
The Wild Girl
Psykhe
The Crimson Thread
Beauty in Thorns
Bitter Greens
See all

Praise for Dancing on Knives

The metaphor that holds this decidedly atmospheric novel together is that of the Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. In this cruel fairytale, the Little Mermaid may have the young Prince but the price she pays is horrific – she will be able to walk but every step she takes will be like ‘‘stepping on sharp knives’’ and her tongue is also cut out. Such is the price she must pay for love. Implicit here is the pain that the novel’s heroine must carry as she tries to overcome the pervading fears that haunt her life. I really enjoy the fact that Kate Forsyth can take a contemporary Australian setting, a dairy farm on the NSW coast with an old family home on it, and turn it into a world of seething passions, intense mystery, romance, magic and – let’s not forget – a murder or two. First written when Forsyth was 16, Dancing on Knives has been revised several times. And although the novel has been smoothed out, it still retains the instinctive protectiveness the author feels for her tender and oh-so-vulnerable heroine.

Dianne Dempsey, The Sydney Morning Herald

A surprising combination of family drama, murder mystery and love story. Lyrical and exhilarating. Sara’s journey is striking as she faces her fears and moves on; she is a heroine of the modern order.

Johanna de Wever, Australian Book Review

Family saga, fable and whodunit all rolled into a vivid and lyrical whole.

Elizabeth Knox