Horsfall, Rebecca 1965–

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Horsfall, Rebecca 1965–

PERSONAL: Born 1965; daughter of an actor and an actor-director; married; husband's name Doug. Education: University of London, graduate; attended University of Kent.

ADDRESSES: Home—Lincolnshire Wolds, England. Agent—c/o Judith Chilcote, Judith Chilcote Agency, 8 Wentworth Mansions, Keats Grove, London NW3 2RL, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Worked at various jobs in the theatre, including script supervisor, assistant producer, director, sound operator, prop maker, and drama coach. Also worked as a microbiologist, hat checker, deli assistant, wine waitress, truck driver, cleaner, secretary, receptionist, English teacher, computer trainer, and castle caretaker.

WRITINGS:

Dancing on Thorns (novel), Ballantine (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: The daughter of theatre actors, Rebecca Horsfall grew up in the world of the theatre and worked at various backstage tasks from the age of fifteen. After graduating with a biology degree from the University of London, she tried her hand at a myriad of careers—including deli assistant, English teacher, and castle caretaker—but was invariably drawn back to the theatre, and worked as director, producer, script supervisor, and acting coach. In the mid-1990s Horsfall began work on a novel set in the dramatic and demanding world of the ballet. To research this complex background, she took on supporting jobs with two different ballet companies, accompanying them on tours across England. Over the course of ten years, Horsfall's novel eventually grew to over 700 pages, its story of love and friendship spanning two decades. Dancing on Thorns follows a male ballet prodigy during his early struggles to establish a career and his meteoric rise to fame, focusing on his problematic love life.

A Kirkus Reviews contributor described Dancing on Thorns as "a grand, ambitious debut" and a "big, rich, romantic saga, peopled with a full cast of appealing characters." In a review for Library Journal, Amy Ford called Horsfall's rendering of the characters' relationships "superb, and the depiction of the pain and beauty of the ballet world gripping." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked that "Horsfall patiently, fluently takes on the larger-than-life personalities that inhabit the lofty realm of the dance world."