The Flock: A Novel

Ellen Bar

Six elite ballet students come together, fall apart, and find each other again as adults in this mesmerizing debut with rich psychological insights into the nature of friendship and ambition—from a former New York City Ballet soloist.For the six best friends who affectionately refer to themselves as The Flock, the elite American Ballet School (ABS) is a new beginning. In their hometowns, they were ugly ducklings; at ABS they are the chosen ones. And yet getting into the Company is the easy part. Ballet might require physical and mental agility, but life is a dance as well—and offstage, there is no choreography to guide them.Twenty-five years after they arrived as sixteen-year-old students, the members of The Flock have been driven apart by success, failure, and an appalling but unproven accusation. Some have left ballet Maria is a struggling new mom. Nadine is a mental health influencer peddling “ballet survivor” wisdom who would like nothing more than to burn it all down. Anthony and Emmie have made it to the top as Principal dancers, but for all his success, Anthony can’t seem to find the love he yearns for. Blake is the newly appointed Head of ABS with a serious case of impostor syndrome, while the once beloved Jesse is now a pariah. When Emmie, after surviving a harrowing health ordeal, invites them all to her retirement performance, everyone wants an excuse to avoid it—until a shocking event the day before causes all of them to gather not for a celebration, but to reexamine their lives and the choices they’ve made. Told in two timelines, The Flock follows the group as they revisit their memories, reconnect with each other in a changed moral landscape, and reconsider everything they thought they knew about friendship, love, and forgiveness.

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