The Unraveling

A ballerina spirals into a world of lust and luxury in this new addictive novel by Melanie Hamrick, author of First Position.

Jocelyn Banks has always felt like an outsider in the ballet world. She was raised in rural Louisiana, taught to scrap and hustle for the life she wanted. And ever since Jocelyn found ballet, she has been able to take her life into her own hands. After years of success at the North American Ballet, she is now on a hiatus to enjoy life in London.

But in an instant, Jocelyn’s world is turned upside down: she receives a call that her mother has died, and Jocelyn is now responsible for her grandmother’s care. With no money to take care of Mimi, she must find a way back into the ballet world, but ballet in London is completely different from ballet in America. It's not just talent and drive that will move you forward; if you don't secure a sponsor to pay your salary, you will go nowhere. With the help of a new friend and some sheer luck Jocelyn manages to score a donor, which is crucial at the Royal National Ballet—but the hardest part is yet to come.

Jocelyn is unable to break through her emotions, afraid that if she does, she’ll be flooded with feelings she can’t afford to have. But something about her sponsor, the charismatic Alastair Cavendish, sets a fire in her. What she feels when she’s with him is raw and real. If she goes down this precarious path, she knows she’s doomed to fall into an intoxicating spiral of self-sabotage. But the lust and magnetizing lure of power and prestige keep clawing at her, ultimately forcing her to choose between desire and duty.