Spin the Sky

Magnolia Woodson wants nothing more than to escape the town that hates her—she just doesn’t know how to do it.

Forced to put up with the snide comments and hateful looks thrown at them by the clamming-obsessed residents in their pitifully small Oregon town, Mags feels she’s destined to pay for the horrible, awful thing her mom did—and that Mom left her and her sister, Rose, to deal with—until the day she dies.

But when a nationwide televised dance competition posts tryouts in nearby Portland, Mags’s best friend, George, says they have to go and audition. Not only have they spent the past fourteen years of their lives dancing side-by-side, dreaming of a day just like this, but also it could be Mags’s chance of a lifetime. She could win the grand-prize money and get her and Rose out of Summerland. This is her chance to do the thing she loves most with everyone watching, her chance to show the town that she’s not and has never been a “no-good Woodson girl,” like her mother.

But will the competition prove too steep? And will Mags be able to retain her friendship with George as they go head-to-head in tryouts? Mags will have to learn that following her dreams may mean changing her life forever in many different ways.

Jill Mackenzie, a Vancouver native, is an ex-ballerina and contemporary dancer. She received her MFA in creative writing at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and now chassés between roles her roles of full-time mom and always-writer. Though Jill no longer studies dance, she still tries to dance herself clean whenever she can. Currently she lives in Fort Jupiter, Florida, where she spends her free time beach-bound with her husband and two beautiful daughters.