Bloomsbury Ballerina

''Mackrell''s enthralling biography restores Lydia Lopokova to her rightful position centre-stage'' DAILY MAIL''Superb ... Mackrell, with her insider''s knowledge of ballet and theatre, lovingly recreates Lydia''s many worlds'' GAY & LESBIAN REVIEW''A hugely entertaining and informative study of the Ballets Russes star'' SPECTATORBorn in 1891 in St Petersburg, Lydia Lopokova lived a long and remarkable life. Her vivacious personality and the sheer force of her charm propelled her to the top of Diaghilev''s Ballet Russes. Through a combination of luck, determination and talent, Lydia became a star in Paris, a vaudeville favourite in America, the toast of Britain and then married the world-renowned economist, and formerly homosexual, John Maynard Keynes.Lydia''s story links ballet and the Bloomsbury group, war, revolution and the economic policies of the super-powers. She was an immensely captivating, eccentric and irreverent personality: a bolter, a true bohemian and, eventually, an utterly devoted wife.