Girls of Dark Divine: How Gothic Ballet and Sisterhood Shape E.V. Woods’ Haunting Debut
Discover the cursed Marionettes, the power of sisterhood and the dark, mesmerising world of E.V. Woods’ gothic YA fantasy.
This post is sponsored by Usborne.
Ballet in books and movies is usually all about rivalry and backstabbing, but Girls of Dark Divine flips the script. In this gothic fantasy, cursed ballerinas known as the Marionettes aren’t tearing each other down; they’re holding each other up. Below, author E.V. Woods dives into how eerie marionette imagery and powerful sisterhood shape her haunting debut.
Oftentimes in literature and other media, ballet is presented as a cut-throat art form. Essentially, a battlefield where dancers vie for top spots, sabotage each other in any possible way, and harbour an all-consuming resentment for people they see as competition.
In Girls of Dark Divine, I wanted to explore this world of ballet, but the common theme of ruthless competition didn’t feel right for this story. Instead, I wanted my dancers, my Marionettes, to be bound together in a different way. To experience a kind of sisterhood amongst the ballet troupe as they faced something so much worse than internal chaos. I wanted to see them sharing friendship, joy and love – even in impossibly difficult times.
In Girls of Dark Divine, Emberlyn is the lead dancer of the famous ballet troupe known as the Marionettes – girls who are bound to a Puppet Master by a cruel curse that forces them to perform to his whims. They are attached to him by quite literal strings, forced to perform as his puppets with little to no memory of their lives before they were cursed into his dance troupe. Though the girls enjoy fame, renown, glamorous parties and visits to decadent theatres, this pales in comparison to the true lived experience of a complete lack of control over their own lives – and even their own movements – whilst being unable to ask anyone for help or explain what is happening to them by the curse that steals their voices too.
The novel explores loss of autonomy, loss of free will and a kind of imprisonment. These dark themes make this gothic novel incredibly chilling, and at times, a shocking read. But such darkness would be smothering without something beautiful and light to balance it. Something as powerful as the fury of wronged young women to give an element of hope.
Living through such extreme circumstances, sisterhood is one of the most important aspects of the novel. Friendship that becomes each girl’s shining light in the middle of the darkness. A connection that feeds Emberlyn’s strength and a love that allows her to feel brave enough to consider her choices, pursue their freedom and survive the trauma and devastation she must live through.
When Emberlyn attempts to face the dark alone, she struggles. She is directionless, unclear of where she should turn, what she should do. But when her friends – her sisters – gather around her, she gains the confidence to make her final choices. The sisterhood of Girls of Dark Divine is the beating heart of the novel – the undercurrent of power that guides and pushes Emberlyn to fight for her survival.
Like in real life, connection, love and friendship are what make the girls formidable. It’s what allows them to all keep going, and gives them the strength to take down the twisted villain who so viciously attempts to control them – and who, in the end, must face the girls’ wrath.
Grab yourself a copy of Girls of Dark Divine by E.V. Woods now.