Elaine Neil Orr | Dancing Woman

ABOUT THE EVENT

Tickets include a signed copy of DANCING WOMAN, guaranteed entry to the event, and a seat in the reserved section. Elaine will be in conversation with David Payne and will sign books after the program.

All live author events are subject to change. More information about our events can be found at quailridgebooks.com/eventsfaq.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Elaine Neil Orr, born in Nigeria to expat parents, brings us an indelible portrait of a young female artist, torn between two men and two cultures, struggling to find her passion and her purpose.

It’s 1963 and Isabel Hammond is an expat who has accompanied her agriculture aid worker husband to Nigeria, where she is hoping to find inspiration for her art and for her life. Then she meets charismatic local singer Bobby Tunde, and they share a night of passion that could upend everything. Seeking solace and distraction, she returns to her painting and her home in a rural village where she plants a lemon tree and unearths an ancient statue buried in her garden. She knows that the dancing female figure is not hers to keep, yet she is reluctant to give it up, and soon, she notices other changes that make her wonder what the dancing woman might portend.

Against the backdrop of political unrest in Nigeria, Isabel’s personal situation also becomes precarious. She finds herself in the center of a tide of suspicion, leaving her torn between the confines of her domestic life and the desire to immerse herself in her art and in the culture that surrounds her. The expat society, the ancient Nigerian culture, her beautiful family, and even the statue hidden in a back room—each trouble and beguile Isabel. Amid all of this, can she finally become who she wants to be?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ELAINE NEIL ORR is the author of five books, including the novels A Different Sun and Swimming Between Worlds. She was born and grew up in Nigeria, the daughter of missionary parents, and most of her writing is grounded in both the American South and the Nigerian South. She is a professor of literature at N.C. State University and serves on the faculty of the Brief-Residency MFA in Writing Program at Spalding University.

DAVID PAYNE is the NY Times Notable author of five novels and a memoir, Barefoot to Avalon, which Jay McInerney calls, “one of the most powerful and penetrating memoirs I’ve ever read; it is fiercely honest, deeply engaging, and utterly heartbreaking.” A native North Carolinian, Payne grew up in Henderson and lives in Hillsborough now.

Host or Publisher Quail Ridge Books