The Belly Dancer by DeAnna Cameron
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(Paperback)
- Pub. Date: July 2009
- 320pp
- Sales Rank: 172,711
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: July 2009
- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
- Format: Paperback, 320pp
- Sales Rank: 172,711
- ISBN-13: 9780425227787
- ISBN: 0425227782
Synopsis
A scandal that shocks a nation...and a passion that transforms a woman.
At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the modern, the exotic, and the ground-breaking collide. But Dora Chambers has more pressing matters to consider. Hoping to begin a life of wealth and privilege in Chicago, she sets out to earn the approval of the Fair's Board of Lady Managers to appease her ambitious, aloof husband. Unimpressed, they give Dora the distasteful task of enforcing proper conduct at the Egyptian belly dancing exhibition.
But Dora's sensibilities are not so easily flustered. She finds herself captivated by these exotic women, and by their enigmatic manager, Hossam Farouk, who makes his mistrust of her known-although his lingering glances hint at something else.
As Dora's eyes are opened to the world beyond a life of social expectations and quiet servitude, she finds the courage to break free of her self-imposed bondage, and discovers the truth about the desire and passion in her own heart.
Publishers Weekly
While Cameron depicts with accuracy and sympathy the very real plight of women in 19th century America, uneven pacing and character development weaken this debut. When the World's Fair arrives in Chicago in 1893, women are sexually repressed and strictly ruled by their husbands. Newlywed Dora Chambers goes to great lengths to keep her banker husband, Charles, happy, even ingratiating herself with a dreadful group of snotty socialites who oversee the decorum of the fair's more exotic exhibits, like the popular Egyptian belly dancing attraction. Dora is given the task of toning down the Egyptian dancers' act, strikes up a friendship with the troupe, and together they appease the outraged female population by modifying their dance and adding scarves to disguise their curves. Dora's husband, impatient with her virginal fear of the marriage bed, quickly resumes relations with his powerful and rich mistress, a widow who despises Dora and knows the secrets that can ruin Dora's social standing. Despite the intriguing subject and historical period, Dora's startling transformation under the tutelage of the dance troupe feels unreal, even though the story is based on fact.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Biography
DeAnna Cameron served as editor of Orange Coast, a regional lifestyle magazine, and worked at several Southern California newspapers before turning to fiction.
Customer Reviews
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A 24-Hour, Stove-Stirring Read!!!by IzzyDancer
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September 22, 2009: It has been many years since I was so engrossed in a book that I found myself reading it all day long, all night long, even while I was stirring the spaghetti sauce on the stove, pausing only long enough to go to work and get some much needed sleep! For someone whose life has been irrevocably changed by this dance form, DeAnna Cameron has woven a beautiful tapestry around the mysterious details of this King Arthur of our world, and who she could have been...and also something more. She has captured so much of the essence of what draws woman after woman (and others) to this dance. The way it changes our lives. The way it changes us from the inside out in ways that, if we continue to dance, we are powerless to stop. Even those who simply do the movements from their minds are affected, but those of us who allow The Rhythm to overtake us, to infuse every cell in our bodies cannot help but undergo purification, transformation. Sometimes it feels as though we've been put through a rock-polisher, but once we accept and follow our hearts, follow the heartbeat of the drum...there is no comparison and we can never settle again. This book tells that story!
Over 100 years have passed, yet today's woman can still relate to these dilemmas--the driving fear of needing to please, to conform, to do things right in order to hold onto the life one has worked so hard to build, and the immense release that comes with finding one's soul and realizing that there is an entire world out there, just waiting to be lived in. This book was full of so much color and scent and taste and movement (or excruciating lack thereof)! These were characters that I could totally feel for and hope for and smack my head over. Even the antagonists--I couldn't truly hate them because I could see their dilemmas as well, even if I didn't like how they handled it--and that makes my day in any good story. These characters weren't just two-dimensional, which really kept me hooked and turning page after page until I finally found out the answers to my burning questions.For the belly dancer in me, it was phenomenal to see imaginative life breathed into this world that is such an enigmatic part of our heritage. For the girl who grew up in a tiny, rural Northland town, then found her soul and the world through an activity that raises many eyebrows and has been the subject of many a scandalous impression, it is a triumph to see this book in print. For the instructor in me, I am excited about the thought that maybe this story will bring even more appreciation and understanding to this wondrous art form and culture. Becoming a belly dancer has given me a new life, has saved my life, has brought me to life. DeAnna Cameron gets that. Of course she does. She's not just a writer--she's also a belly dancer.--From Another IsidoraTERRIFIC STORY!!!by Anonymous
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July 15, 2009: I FINISHED IT ALREADY!! What an awesome story of a woman finding her inner self and strength. The descriptions of each of the characters really brought them to life. I can hardly wait for the next book!!
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