2014 Miami Book Fair | Victoria Tennant

Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actress Victoria Tennant played the title role in her first film, The Ragman’s Daughter, in 1972. Among her many film credits, she has appeared in The Handmaid’s Tale, LA Story, All of Me, the television mini-series The Winds of War, and its sequel War and Remembrance. Irina Baronova and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo (University of Chicago Press; $55.00) is a sumptuous, illustrated history that tells the story of the rise of modern ballet and its popularity through the life of one of ballet’s most glamorous stars, Irina Baronova, prima ballerina for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, and later for Ballet Theatre in New York.

Drawing on letters, correspondence, oral histories, and interviews, Baronova’s daughter, Victoria Tennant, warmly recounts Baronova’s dramatic life.  Tennant provides an intimate account of Baronova’s life as a dancer, and rare behind-the-scenes stories of life on the road with the stars of the company. Spectacular photographs, a mix of archival images and family snapshots, offer many rare views of rehearsals, costumes, set designs, and the dancers themselves both at their most dazzling and at their most mundane. Mikhail Baryshnikov says, “…this book shows us the kind, funny, and hardworking woman behind the legend. She was a total pro and an elegant human being. If it’s possible, I’m more in awe than ever.”

2014 Miami Book Fair