Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy

A timely YA thriller—part John Le Carré and part The Americans—about a Bolshoi ballerina trapped by family secrets and a legacy of espionage.

The Bolshoi Saga: Marina

Marina is born into privilege. A talented young dancer with Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet at the height of the Cold War, she seems destined to follow in the footsteps of her mother Svetlana, a Soviet Artist of the People. But when Svetlana disappears without explanation, Marina and her father have to get out. Fast. They defect to America, hoping they’ve  escaped Russia’s secret police, hoping they can make a fresh start in New York. Instead they discover the web of intrigue around Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach is as tangled as the one they left behind.

Elizabeth Kiem studied Russian language and literature at Columbia University and lived in Russia immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Her nonfiction work can be read all over the world wide web. She is also the author of two other books in the Bolshoi Saga: Hider, Seeker, Secret Keeper and Orphan, Agent, Prima, Pawn. She lives in London.