Astonish Me is Shipstead’s second novel after her successful debut, Seating Arrangements. You don’t have to be a ballet enthusiast to embrace this story of love, friendship, truth, and secrets. It’s an impressive psychological study of talent, betrayal, and parenthood. Told in alternating chapters of time and characters, we see how intense the world of ballet is through the eyes of a group of friends whose lives are entwined over a period of 20-plus years.

— Sue of R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison

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