Biography

Lucy Ashe is the author of the historical fiction novel Clara & Olivia, published in the UK in 2023 by Oneworld Publications. Her novel is entitled The Dance of the Dolls in the US and Canada, published by Union Square & Co, and described by Publishers Weekly as a ‘fiercely memorable debut from a writer to watch.’ Her second ballet-themed historical novel, The Sleeping Beauties, will be published in 2024.

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Lucy trained at The Royal Ballet School for eight years, first as a Junior Associate and then at White Lodge, the Royal Ballet School’s residence in Richmond Park. She has a Diploma in Dance Teaching with the British Ballet Organisation. She studied English Literature at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, while continuing to dance and perform, as well as teaching ballet to students. After graduation, she obtained a PGCE teaching qualification and became an English teacher. She taught English at Harrow School for nine years and was the Head of English and Senior Head of Subjects, before moving to New York City in the summer of 2023.

Her poetry and short stories have been published in a number of literary journals and she was shortlisted for the 2020 Impress Prize for New Writers. She also reviews theatre, in particular ballet, writing for the website Playstosee.com.

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Books

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A Burning Sea
A Burning Sea

Articles

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From Stage to Page

From Stage to Page

When planning Clara & Olivia, I knew I wanted the setting of the novel to be a 1933 production of Coppélia performed by the Vic-Wells Ballet at Sadler’s Wells theatre. However, by the time I had finished writing the novel, many more ballets had found their way into the narrative. While ...
British Ballet

British Ballet

British BalletEver since I was a teenager training at The Royal Ballet School, I have been fascinated by dance history. Alongside daily ballet classes and academic lessons, we studied the development of ballet, how it emerged from the court dances of the Italian Renaissance, the impact of ...

Author Interview

Lucy Ashe
Lucy Ashe, what prompted you to choose the period that you wrote your first book in?I knew I wanted my novel to be set at a time of new beginnings for British Ballet, and the early 1930s was an important transitional time. Ninette de Valois founded the Vic-Wells Ballet at Sadler’s Wells theatre in 1931, the company that later became The Royal Ballet. In my
Fiction Book of the Month: Lucy Ashe on Clara & Olivia

Lucy, Clara & Olivia was your debut novel. Was the idea for the book long in gestation?

While Clara & Olivia is my first published novel, I did write two novels in the twenties that I never managed to get published. I think of these as my practice ...

Short Stories

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Sugar Plum

Sugar Plum

When rehearsals began for Casse Noisette, Theodore Frost couldn’t help thinking that Marie le Sansonnet would be a much better Mouse King than Sugar Plum Fairy. All that rushing around, thinking herself royalty, demanding hot drinks sweetened with sugar that certainly wasn’t coming out of her ...