Varley O'Connor

Varley O'Connor's fourth novel (Scribner, May 2012) is based on the life of George Balanchine’s fifth wife, a star ballerina whose career was cut short when she contracted polio at age twenty-six.

In 1956, hours after performing with the New York City Ballet, Tanaquil Le Clercq fell gravely ill, awaking from a feverous sleep to find that she could no longer move her legs. Set against the backdrop of creative New York of the 1960s and 70s, The Master’s Muse tells the remarkable true story of two artistic legends whose profound love and complicated relationship forever changed American cultural history.

"What a rare pleasure to be introduced to Tanaquil Le Clercq through The Master’s Muse. I was enchanted from the first page by Varley O’Connor’s graceful portrait of this remarkable woman. How privileged we readers are to have the life in all of its strength and intelligence and elegance. Le Clercq is rendered without fuss or ornament, in a manner wholly at one with the beauty she and Balanchine both strove for in their art."

--Paul Harding, author of Tinkers (winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, fiction)


"A brilliant novel in memoir form, The Master's Muse is pure magic. As I read and was thoroughly absorbed by the writing, the remarkable characters, and the story, I simply could not believe this was a work of fiction, not an authentic memoir, expertly written. The Master’s Muse is a superb performance by Varley O'Connor. From one writer to another, my hat's off."

--Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife, Abundance, and Adam & Eve


"An utterly gorgeous rendering of the life of ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq, whose career was destroyed overnight by polio in 1956. O'Connor vividly recreates the personalities and intrigues of the dance world of the fifties and sixties, but her greatest triumph is in her fascinating portrait of the steely Le Clercq and the enigmatic Balanchine, who first made her his perfect ballerina, then married her, and ultimately betrayed her."

--Adrienne Sharp, author of The True Memoirs of Little K, The Sleeping Beauty, and White Swan, Black Swan