Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn [Paperback]

Kris Radish (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2004

From the bestselling author of The Elegant Gathering of White Snows comes a poignant, outrageous, refreshingly liberating story about one woman whose life takes an unexpected turn....

Meg Fratano has just witnessed the unthinkable: her husband of twenty—seven years making love to another woman. In her bed. And all Meg wanted to do was watch. Quietly, secretly, watch. Then she realized her life would never be the same.

Meg isn’t sure what she wants, but she knows it’s not what she had. After almost three decades of marriage and two children, she has finally awakened to how unhappy she is.

Now, with the help of friends old and new, and even her teenage daughter—a former brat who has blossomed into a startlingly wise young woman—Meg just might break through the chains of everyone’s expectations for her and find the strength to take the first step on her own path. To strip away a lifetime of inhibitions. To dance naked at the edge of dawn...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Everything changes and the very foundation of her life comes into question when Meg witnesses her husband having sex with another woman on her bed in her suburban Chicago home. In order to find her way to a new life, Meg, along with three friends, re-creates the journey to Mexico that her favorite aunt took as a young woman. Her aunt's influence is still visible in remote Mexican villages, and the journey becomes spiritual as well as geographical. As Meg finds out more details of her aunt's life, she wonders why this wonderful woman's influence on her never took hold before she went into crisis. Then, when she returns to Chicago, Meg finds kindred spirits who have felt lost and oppressed but who now may be willing to let go and even dance naked. Once again Radish, author of The Elegant Gathering of White Snows (2003), sings the praises of sisterhood by creating an enticing world of women helping women to become the empowered individuals they were meant to be. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

Meg Fratano has skated through life on the tail end of others' dreams. But when she finds her husband in bed with another woman, Meg can no longer reconcile the needs of her family with her own yearnings and desires. As she struggles with the decision to leave her children, Meg must reach back and touch the woman she once was, a woman that she should never have let go--and before she can share her life with those she loves, she must learn to create a life of her very own.

In the uncompromising, heartfelt prose that has inspired women everywhere, Kris Radish shares the powerful story of one woman's journey--and the grand and glorious unexpected moment when she finally recognizes the path to her own happiness. DANCING NAKED AT THE EDGE OF DAWN is a stirring novel of love and longing, of family bonds and powerful friendships, that will resonate with any woman who has ever dreamed of letting go of it all and dancing naked at the edge of dawn.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553382632
• ISBN-13: 978-0553382631
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kris Radish grew up dreaming about living a Nancy Drew-like life and always held her own passion for writing very close to her heart. A former journalist, nationally syndicated columnist, magazine writer and university instructor, Radish also loves to tell stories about the times she picked nighcrawlers, served beer to cowboys, worked on a tomato farm and hung out of the side of a fast moving helicoper.

Radish is now the bestselling author of six novels and has captured the hearts of legions of fans with her heartwarming, real, passionate and often hilarious novels. Her stories focus on the important bonds of female friendship and celebrate the common feelings, heartaches, loves, and struggles that all women share. She loves to call her work "true fiction" because she addresses the real emotions that women live and share every day.

She is also the author of two non-fiction books, writes poetry, is the mother of two young and very fiesty adults, is known for her wild laugh and wilder hair, and is working on her seventh novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Chick lit and not for everyone, July 5, 2005

By 

L. Allison "Bibliophile" (The left coast) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn (Paperback)

This is not Chick Lit. And it is not a book for everyone. Many will say that it is full of purple prose, that the author used 20 words where one would do. That there are sexual over tones in the book. All true, but none of these things spoil the message or journey of the book. I loved the whole thing. So, if you are a strong women of the world, filled with confidence and have done what ever you wanted to when you wanted to then skip this book. You have already made the journey.

But, if you are like me, waiting, waiting, to loose 10 pounds, or for the children to grow up, or until a few more bills are paid, or if you are waiting for a Man to come into your life and rescue you, perhaps this book is just right for you.

Amazingly descriptive, lovely, elegant, thoughtful and filled with pathos, camaraderie, bonding between girl friends and discovery. I have always wanted to dance naked at the edge of dawn but have always felt I needed to loose a few pounds first. Don't wait, life is passing, the time for dancing is the present.
Take this book into your life, and enjoy it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Chick-lit for Grown-ups, July 5, 2005

By 

Denise H. (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn (Paperback)

This book was an engaging read but its take on the empowerment of women suffers from well-intended over-kill. Meg Frantano's mid-life crisis is triggered by witnessing a cheating husband in the book's very funny and touching opening scene. The rest of the story does not deliver on its early promise and the humour seems to fade as the somewhat thinly-plotted story continues. A bevy of larger-than-life (and of course beautiful) female friends support and inspire Meg on her journey towards self-discovery. As a woman of a "certain age", I can certainly relate to Meg's experiences and I admire the bonds of female friendships.

However, I think what irritated me most was the unrealistic ease in which Meg's life issues were resolved. I can appreciate a positive spin on things, but come on - an inherited ocean cottage in Mexico, a complete resolution with all family members and enough cash to ease any life change? And that's only part of the package! Lots of "perfects" and "beautifuls" pepper these pages. The author's idealism gets in the way of realism. What about the larger population of women who simply can't afford to be "empowered"?

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, August 9, 2005

By 

Liz in VT "reader of many books" (Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Elegant Gathering of White Snows" by Kris Radish and was looking forward to another great read with this book. I have seldom been so disappointed in a story.

I loved the beginning of "Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn"...but after the first chapter, the book just fizzles out. The writing is overly flowery and the conversations between the characters are unrealistic.

I'm a believer in many things new age, karma, positive thinking, etc. but the overblown prose in this story and simplistic resolutions to each and every problem facing our heroine, Meg, were enough to make me throw up my hands several times in frustration.

Meg serves her husband with divorce papers and they end up having a fabulous dinner together reliving the positive aspects of their failed relationship...and one-upping eachother with praise for the other.....uh huh. Her Mom has to have a lump checked out...but her yoga and positive thinking help to make it non-cancerous. Meg goes to Mexico as her Aunt had wished and finds the love of her life, a perfect seaside cottage that she now owns and peace. The list of unrealistic outcomes is endless.

I did keep plugging along trying to enjoy the story...but the writing kept getting in my way of the plot and the simplistic resolutions just became too much to bear.

Try "The Elegant Gathering of White Snows" instead.