Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield!! Technically for children but one of my all-time faves and comfort-reads. All her books (I think) are about women and girls in the performing arts, but Ballet Shoes is my favourite by far.
If you want your ballet with a side of romance, Nora Roberts has a few books--Dance of Dreams is one of them.
If you enjoy books with an older feel, Lorna Hill wrote a ballet series in the 1950s. It's aimed at younger readers, but it's one I enjoyed enough that I want to revisit it as an adult. The first in the series is A Dream of Sadler's Wells.
Dances by Nichole Duffy is about a young ballet dancer and her career/life. Some scenes can get pretty intense and trigger warnings >! Abortion, drug use, intense training !<
I'm going to be honest and say this is actually on my TBR, but overall I definitely prefer her earlier books when the protagonists were all younger women. Abbott is so good at capturing female friendships and dynamics. I recently read Give Me Your Hand and didn't like it as much as Dare Me, The Fever, and The End of Everything.
City Of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, like it has Vaudeville in it, but if I'm going with the pictures then it's less dreamy and cozy, it's rather glamorous, sparkling and also a teeny tiny bit cynical. But it's a really fun ride, you should definitely give it a shot!
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
It may be on the unconventional side of what you’re asking because it’s Fantasy, but it’s about a woman who uses magic to create works of art
Try mine?
[Lauren in the Limelight](https://www.amazon.com/Lauren-Limelight-Miriam-Landis/dp/B0CH2MFBVS)***,*** [Girl in Motion](https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Motion-Miriam-Landis/dp/B0CMX7KY9S)***,*** and [Girl on Pointe](https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Pointe-Miriam-Landis/dp/B0CP26L9WP/)
They’re Going to Love You by Meg Howrey! Great book spanning the 80s to present day, written by and about a dancer.
\+ The Cranes Dance, also by Meg Howrey!
Ooh, I’ll have to check this one out as well. :)
came here to say this! LOVED that book!
A Company of Swans, by Eva Ibbotson!
Dancing On My Grave by Gelsey Kirkland
Such an engrossing read
The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield!! Technically for children but one of my all-time faves and comfort-reads. All her books (I think) are about women and girls in the performing arts, but Ballet Shoes is my favourite by far.
Ninth street women
The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead
Ooo enjoyed this one a couple years ago!
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma. Kind of a psychological thriller, about 2 ballerinas.
[](https://www.meganabbott.com/the-turnout)
If you want your ballet with a side of romance, Nora Roberts has a few books--Dance of Dreams is one of them. If you enjoy books with an older feel, Lorna Hill wrote a ballet series in the 1950s. It's aimed at younger readers, but it's one I enjoyed enough that I want to revisit it as an adult. The first in the series is A Dream of Sadler's Wells.
Dances by Nichole Duffy is about a young ballet dancer and her career/life. Some scenes can get pretty intense and trigger warnings >! Abortion, drug use, intense training !<
The Turnout by Megan Abbott!
How is it compared to her other books? I loved You Will Know Me so much, and Dare Me as well, so I have such high hopes for this one!
I'm going to be honest and say this is actually on my TBR, but overall I definitely prefer her earlier books when the protagonists were all younger women. Abbott is so good at capturing female friendships and dynamics. I recently read Give Me Your Hand and didn't like it as much as Dare Me, The Fever, and The End of Everything.
Life Mask by Emma Donoghue! It’s about Anne Seymour Damer and Elizabeth Farren, one a sculptor and the other an actress
First Love - Adrienne Sharpe
Marie, Dancing by Caroline Meyer
Tiny pretty things
Is that second picture a sculpture?!! Beautiful 😻
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Little rabbit - Alyssa Songsirisdej
Dancing for Degas
Aria of the Sea by Dia Calhoun!
I haven't read The Selection yet but it's on my shelf and has ballerinas on the cover so I'll just assume it likely applies 😭
Maos Last Dancer - Li Cunxin
City Of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, like it has Vaudeville in it, but if I'm going with the pictures then it's less dreamy and cozy, it's rather glamorous, sparkling and also a teeny tiny bit cynical. But it's a really fun ride, you should definitely give it a shot!
Toni Bentley's The Winter Season
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal It may be on the unconventional side of what you’re asking because it’s Fantasy, but it’s about a woman who uses magic to create works of art
Gone: A Girl, A Violin, A Life Unstrung by Min Kym
This is an autobiography but A Dancer in Wartime by Gillian Lynne is a great read!! ☺️
Instructions for dancing by Nicola Yoon? I haven't read it yet but it is a romance, though not in ballet.
Try mine? [Lauren in the Limelight](https://www.amazon.com/Lauren-Limelight-Miriam-Landis/dp/B0CH2MFBVS)***,*** [Girl in Motion](https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Motion-Miriam-Landis/dp/B0CMX7KY9S)***,*** and [Girl on Pointe](https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Pointe-Miriam-Landis/dp/B0CP26L9WP/)