'Find that book' please!

[thaliablogs]

Book is set in Russia at a training school for, I think, ballet. One of the girls trains for the circus instead, riding horses, and ends up injured because she jumps on an injured knee. I remember it was bound in the same way as "Masha" when I ised to borrow it from the library. She might have been called Nadja but not sure. Google doing me no good. Any suggestions?

I think this is A Circling Star by Mara Kay who is also author of Masha. The heroine's called Aniuta and she's sent courtesy of her mother's employer to be trained as a ballet dancer at the Imperial Theatrical School in St Petersburg. I won't say any more because of spoilers - it's a brilliant book, I think, and fairly similar in feel to Masha although set a little bit later (mid 19th-century).

Morningtoncrescent you are a genius thank you! I googled mara kay as I thought it was by her but only masha and YLIW came up. Will go see if I can find it now.