(In fact, her title, Astonish Me, comes from the signature challenge that Sergei Diaghilev, founder of the Ballet Russes, issued to artists and dancers working with him.)Īt the center of Shipstead's tightly choreographed story of frustrated passion and ambition stands Joan Joyce, a dancer whose gifts and discipline are good enough to earn her a place in the corps, but not to propel her into the spotlight as a prima ballerina. That's because Shipstead here is scrutinizing the world of professional ballet. Witty asides and spicy insights were served up as freely in that novel as the Bloody Marys its characters kept tossing back.Ĭompared to that crumbling Old Money stronghold by the sea, the closed world in Astonish Me is less jolly and even more self-regarding. In Seating Arrangements, Shipstead infiltrated the compound of an old WASP family gathering for a wedding on an island like Nantucket. Through her fiction, Shipstead gains entry into exclusive worlds and trains her opera glasses on private social rituals, as well as behind-the-scenes hanky panky. After reading that novel, I likened the then 20-something-year-old Shipstead to 'Edith Wharton with a millennial generation edge.' The comparison remains sound. She did just that -astonish me - with her debut novel of 2012, called Seating Arrangements. The title of Maggie Shipstead's second novel is: Astonish Me. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Astonish Me Author Maggie Shipstead

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