She Danced Anyway

Book excerpt: No one thinks Elizabeth Alter can manage independent living, and even she questions a future of eating only toast. She watches friends test society’s boundaries, desperate for similar courage to push back. She loves dancing but the city’s harridans and preachers want promiscuous dancing, wild jazz, and skimpy dresses ended and send the police often. In 1920s New York City. Elizabeth works at the public library. She befriends co-worker James, to whom she introduces the delight of dancing. James imagines a traditional future, while Elizabeth dreams of dancing and living alone. After a violent altercation with her mother, Elizabeth flees to her grandmother. She meets George, a piano player, and embarks on a tumultuous flirtation. Caught in the crosshairs of society’s narrow expectations, will Elizabeth chase her dreams? Or will her own heart conspire against her?