Sex-y Time

How did I not know about Barbara Trapido? How?

I blame my parents. They're heathens who think that the daily tabloids constitute a proper reading diet. I mean, I didn't discover Susan Hill until I got access to the internet, so I'm fighting a losing battle, but even so; Barbara Trapido is so amazing that I can't believe I've only just found her.

It all started last Monday. I was hiding out in the conveniently located Uni bookshop, watching out the window for signs of an approaching bus, when my gaze happened upon this pretty little book with ballet shoes on the cover.

Now, I have a serious weakness for ballet. I spent much of my adolescence badgering my mam for lessons, only to be told that she didn't think ballet was for me. This was perfectly sensible of my mother. I am Irish, which means I am part potato; there was no way I would ever be able to pirouette and not shame myself. Still, when I saw those magic shoes on the cover of Sex and Stravinsky I felt, just for a minute, the wistful yearnings of my childhood.

Naturally, I bought the book.

I took it home and under the guise of 'doing up my notes on TS Eliot' I read the thing cover-to-cover in one sitting. And guess what? One of the characters is a little girl who wants to do ballet and her mam won't let her! I admit it, I wept a little bit.

The book-child, Zoe, is much more proactive than me though. She gets herself a ballet instruction manual from the library and teaches herself the basics in the hope that her mother will relent. I never did this; I used to just throw myself on the sofa and have hissy fits before storming off to re-read Ballet Shoes.

Of course, the book is about alot more than just wanting to do ballet. There's partner swapping, a really sad story of an arranged marriage, the most loathsome mother to ever grace the pages of a novel and an amazing Amazon called Caroline.

I finished it in a blur of excitement and immediately acquired Frankie and Stankie and Brother of the More Famous Jack (which induced similar fits of glee).

I can't believe I haven't been reading Barbara all my life.

Seriously though-read Sex and Stravinsky. It's properly good and it's going in the 'for keeps' stack.