Juhea Kim’s City of Night Birds is the latest pick for Reese Witherspoon’s book club.
The novel, published last week by Ecco, follows Natalia Leonova, a drug-addicted ballerina whose career was stalled by an injury as she returns to St. Petersburg to attempt a comeback. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus says of the book, “Written in sumptuous prose, Kim’s novel is a feast for the senses.”
In an interview with Literary Hub, Kim said she was inspired to write her novel by “all my years of dancing, of playing the cello, of watching performances.”
“A special impetus was seeing Angelin Preljocaj’s Le Parc, which is set to Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23,” she said. “Another stroke of inspiration was the video of the singular Alexander Godunov in Bolshoi’s Carmen; I cried watching it many times.”
Witherspoon announced the novel’s selection on Instagram, writing, “This story left me thinking about the ways we overcome setbacks and redefine what truly matters.”
The Reese’s Book Club Instagram account also posted a video of Kim talking about her novel.
“City of Night Birds is a story of desire and all its light and shadow, of ambition, of forgiveness, and above all, the true meaning of art,” she said. “I really wanted to write a love story between an artist and her art, and I think that I have achieved that, and I am deeply grateful that you are reading this story from my heart.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
