I assume it has not gone unnoticed that I have been doing more episodes featuring authors recently. This has had two useful outcomes:
It has kept me engaged with the podcast. Every so often I go through burnout periods and need to try new things to keep my interest up. Talking to authors has rekindled my passion for the show, which I think is good for all episodes!
I’m reading more than I had been for a long time. Not just the books that I’ll be discussing on the podcast, but just generally, and that makes me happy. I know “I love reading!” is a stereotype for librarians, but just like the burnout I talked about in bullet point numero uno, I had slid into a bad place with reading, just could not focus on reading anything. But thanks in part to these interviews, I’m reading a lot more!
In this episode, I chatted with author-but-also-librarian Alyssa Wees about her novel Nocturne, which is like if Phantom of the Opera had a baby with Beauty and the Beast and that baby became the lead in Swan Lake.
Enjoy!
CI247 Show Notes
Nocturne
Growing up in Chicago’s Little Sicily in the years following the Great War, Grace Dragotta has always wanted to be a ballerina, ever since she first peered through the windows of the Near North Ballet company. So when Grace is orphaned, she chooses the ballet as her home, imagining herself forever ensconced in a transcendent world of light and beauty so different from her poor, immigrant upbringing.
Years later, with the Great Depression in full swing, Grace has become the company’s new prima ballerina—though achieving her long-held dream is not the triumph she once envisioned. Time and familiarity have tarnished that shining vision, and her new position means the loss of her best friend in the world. Then she attracts the attention of the enigmatic Master La Rosa as her personal patron and realizes the world is not as small or constricted as she had come to fear.
Who is her mysterious patron, and what does he want from her? As Grace begins to unlock the Master’s secrets, she discovers that there is beauty in darkness as well as light, finds that true friendship cannot be broken by time or distance, and realizes there may be another way entirely to achieve the transcendence she has always sought.
Alyssa Wees
Alyssa Wees is the acclaimed author of The Waking Forest and Nocturne. She grew up writing stories about her Beanie Babies in between ballet lessons. She earned a BA in English from Creighton University and an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia College Chicago. Currently she works as an assistant librarian in youth services at an awesome public library. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband and their two cats.
Mentions
The Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas (no relation)
Steve Thomas is a public library manager who lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with his wife, two kids, and one dog. He has worked in libraries for two decades and has hosted the Circulating Ideas podcast since 2011.
Currently Reading: The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni