Reviews

Praise for Julie Kavanagh's "Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton ""Not only the best biography of a ballet figure but, far more important, a Proustian recollection of that glamorous near-mythical time, the first half of our now setting century." --Gore Vidal "[Julie Kavanagh is] a Nancy Mitford of ballet, mingling gossip, social history, and critical commentary. London in the twenties and thirties... is re-created from personal accounts rendered at first hand, not mined from books." --Arlene Croce, "The New Yorker ""Both critically authoritative and juicily anecdotal... An evident affection for England's first great choreographer doesn't stop Kavanagh from making fun of Ashton's unbridled snobbery and legendary meanness." --Miranda Seymour, "The Sunday Times" (London) "A remarkable achievement. It is fresh, crisp, and clear... An intimate and compelling portrait of a great artist." --Howard Hodgkin "A razor-sharp, often uproariously funny portrait of a demi-monde [that] is fascinating even to those poor souls with zero enthusiasm for ballet." --Rupert Christiansen, "The Spectator"