ARABESQUE
M G da Mota
GENRE: Historical Psychological Drama
Blurb:
A woman living alone in a coastal Sussex town in 1998 plants a copper beech sapling at 3 a.m. on a dark, cold night. Why?
A ballet dancer in 1960s East Germany is oppressed, longs for escaping with his little daughter but not his wife. Why? Will he make it?
In 2022 Karsten von Stein, widower and principal of the Royal Ballet, with two young children, meets Ivone Benjamim, a Portuguese, newly-arrived principal dancer. They discover a magical chemistry when dancing and soon it transfers to their private lives.
Against the background of ballet and its dancers, a woman called Grace tells her story from a rehab centre. Obsessive, delusional she begins believing Ivone robbed her of the man of her dreams—Karsten. And then a skeleton is found in a garden...What connects all these people and their stories?
You’ll be the audience facing the stage of this balletic novel.
Purchase ARABESQUE on Amazon UK and Amazon.com
Excerpt:
She shivers. The air feels wintry. The forecast mentioned frost just before dawn. No problem. The soil is still soft though no longer muddy from the rain of two days earlier. She looks up and around carefully. All the first floor windows she can see are black. Curtains and blinds from where people may spy her garden are shut. Nothing. The fence framing her garden is taller than most, above two metres, casting long shadows when there’s moonlight. But tonight it just adds to the blackness. A fence built for privacy. She likes it.
A sudden pair of luminous dots appear at the far end of the garden. She freezes. Alarmed. It takes her a moment to realise it’s a cat. The glowing eyes of a cat. Her cat, Diabo. She named him with the Portuguese word for the devil after a brief holiday in the Azores years ago where she learned the word. Diabo is black, like a mini panther, with bright green eyes. He trots quietly towards her, meows, rubs her legs for a moment, then shoots up the stairs, probably to find a comfortable, warm spot on her bed. Fine. Taking a deep breath and carefully glancing around one more time she begins her task silently. It’s more difficult than anticipated but she manages. It takes her over an hour but she accomplishes her objective.
When the task is complete she admires the tiny copper beech. It stands erect and proud, reaching for the sky, as if it wishes to touch the stars. It will grow into a fine tree. She straightens, wiping perspiration from her forehead with the back of her hand. No longer cold. The effort has made her hot.
About the Author:
M G da Mota is Margarida Mota-Bull’s pen name for fiction. She is a Portuguese-British novelist with a love for classical music, ballet and opera. Under her real name she also writes reviews of live concerts, CDs, DVDs and books for two classical music magazines on the web: MusicWeb International and Seen and Heard International. She is a member of the UK Society of Authors, speaks four languages and lives in Sussex with her husband. Her website, called flowingprose.com, contains photos and information.
Connect with M G da Mota
Website ~ Facebook ~ LinkedIn ~ Instagram
Giveaway:
$25 Amazon/BN
2 comments:
Hello Avid Reader, it's M G da Mota here, author of Arabesque. Thank you for featuring one of my books again. I truly appreciate it.
Thank you for featuring ARABESQUE today.
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