Last year, Natalya was attending the School of Performing Arts in New York City. Last year, she was well on her way to becoming a professional ballerina. Last year, her father was still alive.
But a car crash changed all that—and Natalya can’t stop blaming herself. Now, she goes to a regular high school in New Jersey; lives with her onetime prima ballerina, now alcoholic mother; and has no hope of a dance career.
At her new school, however, sexy soccer player Antonio sees a brighter future for Natalya, or at least a more pleasant present, and his patient charms eventually draw her out of her shell.
But when upsetting secrets come to light and Tonio’s own problems draw her in, Natalya shuts down again, this time turning to alcohol herself.
Can Natalya learn to trust Antonio before she loses him—and destroys herself?
One, Two, Three… by Elodie Nowodazkij
Publication date: June 26th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Romance,
Unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Hi Princesa. Have you thought about which
book we should write our report about?”
I fight off a small
smile. “Did you really have to call me to discuss this right now?”
“Totally did. By the
way, you’ll type the report.”
“No I won’t.”
“Let’s talk about it
later tonight. You and me.” There’s shuffle behind him and some laughs. “I’ll
call you later.”
He hangs up and I
stare at the phone for a second. Shaking my head, I search my bag for the list
of books Miss Taylor gave us. I scan it, trying to find one we could work on.
My mind wanders to the last time I worked on a project. It was with Emilia and
it was for History. She’s a total buff and she promised that if I taught her
how to land her grand jeté with even
more grace, she’d tutor me. It was a week before the accident, and I never
managed to teach her. I never took that History test.
I check the time again
and my eyebrows draw together. Mama’s not only a bit late. She’s super late.
Where the hell is she?
- You’re French and live in Germany…but you write
in English. How come?
I lived in the United States, in Maryland,
for quite a few years, first as an “au pair” and then as a university student. I’m
a proud Retriever and a proud Terps J,
having received a BA from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County and my
first Master’s from the University of Maryland at College Park. Writing in
English just seems to be more “natural” for me. But maybe one day, I’ll write a
novel in French too.
- What was your inspiration for ONE, TWO, THREE?
I used to love dancing ballet as a kid, and
I won a writing contest to go see the Opera de Paris. We saw the dancers train,
it was magical. Those moments stayed with me.
Then, one day, I was talking about the
movie Center Stage on Twitter and Natalya’s voice came into my head. At first,
all I knew was that she was seventeen and an accident had killed her hope of
becoming a professional ballerina...The accident turned into a car crash that
also took her father’s life.
Natalya’s voice was sad and broken, but
full of want.
From there on, it became her story.
- The family from Natalya, the main character in
your novel, originally comes from Russia. How did you do your research?
The name of my main character was actually
inspired from my mother-in-law, who moved to Germany from Russia about 20 years
ago. My husband, who was born in the Ukraine, still speaks Russian with her,
and I learned a lot from them. His family is the one who taught me there’s a Russian
proverb for every situation, and some of Natalya’s favorite food is also mine.
- Can we expect more books to come with Natalya
& Tonio?
Yes. But I’m not planning a sequel. There
will be at least two companion novels to One, Two, Three. The first one will be
published in November 2014. It will focus on Emilia, Nata’s friend at the
School of Performing Arts. It’s entitled ALWAYS SECOND BEST, and you can
already find it on Goodreads.
The second companion novel will be focusing on Becca, Nata’s best friend.
Publication will be in early 2015.
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Elodie Nowodazkij was raised in a tiny village in France, where she could always be found a book in hand. At nineteen, she moved to the US, where she learned she'd never lose her French accent. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Modern Language & Linguistics, and later earned master's degrees in German Cultural Studies and European Studies. Unbeknownst to her professors, she sometimes drafted stories in class. Now she lives in Germany with her husband and their cat (who doesn't seem to realize he's not human), and uses her commuting time to write the stories swirling in her head. She's also a serial smiley user.
Elodie Nowodazkij was raised in a tiny village in France, where she could always be found a book in hand. At nineteen, she moved to the US, where she learned she'd never lose her French accent. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Modern Language & Linguistics, and later earned master's degrees in German Cultural Studies and European Studies. Unbeknownst to her professors, she sometimes drafted stories in class. Now she lives in Germany with her husband and their cat (who doesn't seem to realize he's not human), and uses her commuting time to write the stories swirling in her head. She's also a serial smiley user.
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