Put on Your Dancing Shoes

As a sucker for fairy tales, this book satisfied just about everything I’ve ever wanted in a book. A reimagining  of the Twelve Dancing Princesses and set in the 1920’s, we follow the Hamilton girls who have been cruelly imprisoned by their father in their home.  Disappointed that he has no male heirs, he neither has affection nor time for most of his daughters. He speaks to his eldest Jo (Josephine)  imparting his wishes and edicts but other than that, he has no relationship with any of them.  Jo acts as the girls’ leader ( they call her General), and manages to give them a life so that they don’t languish in their awful imprisonment.  At night, the girls dress up in catalog dresses that one sister alters to make them fashionable, they slip downstairs without shoes on, and disappear into taxis to be whisked off to hidden supper clubs to dance and drink the night away.

For years, this set up works beautifully for the girls, and although Jo doesn’t dance anymore, she still feels the freedom and relief when they escape the house, if only temporarily.  This comes crashing down after a raid, and her father hearing rumors of twelve girls dancing together begins to suspect that his daughters are somehow getting out of the house.  He puts an ad in the paper offering a monetary reward for information about the dancing girls and begins planning to marry the girls off.  Of course, it’s terrible that he is going to simply marry them off “before they can bring disgrace to his name” but it’s even worse because he doesn’t know his daughters and he doesn’t care about what kind of men he marries them off to (as long as they have money) or if they would be compatible with them.  Jo knows she must do something to save her sisters but something beyond her controls spurs her to put things into motion much more quickly than she suspects or is even prepared for.

This is one of those books that I devoured but while hungrily reading I was hating myself because the end was coming too soon.  I wanted to savor it, but like the girls, I was swept away by the music and I danced my way through the novel far too quickly.  I am an only child (which unlike many, I’m very happy about) but I could get a feel of what it’s like to have sisters (yes, I realize that when I talk about this I always sound like an alien observing people…you should’ve been around when I had to ask my mom how Christmas is supposed to go down concerning presents and siblings ( questions like: “Do you have to share EVERYTHING?” “How do you keep something to yourself?”) because I have three kids and no knowledge of anything! ha!).  The sisters have distinct personalities, and while Jo is their leader we see that all the girls have gifts and talents that make them survivors.  I know that I will reread this book again and while it is a different take on a well known fairy tale, it stands alone without any knowledge of the fairy tale and really takes it to a better level because the sisters are humanized (not just a troop of girls who go dancing and “betraying” their father for no reason). I highly recommend this book. I was completely enthralled.