Synopsis
Miracle McCloy is the child of a talented dancer, who died in childbirth, and a brilliant, reclusive novelist. Raised by her grandmother Gigi, a psychic, Miracle becomes a dancer herself, and a loner who believes in mystical spirits and auras. Then her father disappears. When no one can give an explanation, or even a version of the truth, Miracle becomes obsessed with contacting him and bringing him back. As she loses herself in her quest, she loses her self? and, in a last, desperate attempt, sends her life up in flames. In the page-turning tradition of best-selling novels I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and The Bell Jar, Dancing on the Edge gives readers a story? and a heroine? they will never forget. "Nolan dives into the mind of an emotionally disturbed girl in an intense, exceptionally well-written novel?The shadows of truth, suffering, self-expression, and repression are examined without psychobabble in this sad, funny, and tender story." ? Kirkus Reviews, pointer review "Nolan does a masterful job of drawing readers into the girl's mind and making them care deeply about her chances for the future." ? School Library Journal, starred review
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Review
Never before in the history of the National Book Award has an author been nominated two years in a row. Han Nolan was nominated in 1996 for Send Me Down a Miracle, and in 1997 Dancing on the Edge--a transcendent novel about a young woman trying to find the truth amidst the lies told by her family--won the National Book Award for young people's literature. Miracle was saved at birth from the belly of a dying woman--that sort of entry into the world is hard to live up to. Miracle has been struggling her whole life to become a prodigy like her writer father or to become gifted in the psychic arts like her grandmother. But when her father goes missing and her grandmother claims that he melted away, Miracle devotes all of her energies to bringing him back. Her efforts to reclaim her father are so sincere that she tries to melt herself in the fire made from a circle of candles. Never sparing humor, Han Nolan lets us meet this amazing young woman who wants so much to believe.
About the Author
Han Nolan is the author of Send Me Down a Miracle, which was a finalist for the 1996 National Book Award, and If I Should Die Before I Wake. She lives with her family in Alabama.
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