Description

Three children, having lost their parents in an earthquake come to England to live with a prim uncle and a feeble aunt. Anna lives only to dance -- but her uncle forbids her to have anything to do with ballet. How will she survive? For Anna, everything takes second place to her burning desire to dance. Even the earthquake that destroyed her Turkish home has not made her think differently, only now she's stuck in a prim suburban household with an uncle who "doesn't approve" of dancing. What can Anna do? Not only is there no one to give her lessons, but there's no money for them either, and, anyway, dancing's forbidden. Will she ever become the ballerina she longs to be?

Author description

Noel Streatfeild grew up in a vicarage. Her father eventually became Bishop of Lewes. Noel trained as an actress, and acted for nine years before writing her first book, for adults. She did not write her first (and most famous) children's book until 1936 -- Ballet Shoes. Thereafter she wrote more than thirty other children's books, some of which were televised, and all of which were hugely popular. Noel died in 1986.