A beautiful book with a fascinating story of separated siblings and the worlds of ballet and fashion in the late 19th century. Unfortunately it dragged a little in the middle which reduces its stars to 4 (could have done with a little more editing) but overall an enjoyable and interesting book.

Nicely written. Fast moving. Gave an insight into the fashion/ ballet world @ France during the WWI. The story did have some unexpected twists, which was interesting.

I’ve always been intrigued by a good twins separated at birth story. Unfortunately, the multiple timelines and POVs made this book extremely hard for me to follow. Thanks for letting me try it!

Very interesting story about a set of twins who were separated at birth and the journeys their lives take. The plot was a bit rushed, but an overall very good read!

This book started out really good. I loved the concept of the twins finding eachother almost as if by chance. All with paris and ballet as the background. I strugled as the story went on. The story jumps back and forth between the past and current times as well as peoples POV. As the two time lines get closer together, it became harder for me to dicfer which point in time I was in. This paird with randome POV's dropped in of side characters and the almsot rambily way that some of the characters would talk, ended up pulling me out of the story a lot.

This is a richly imagined historical novel rooted in several not-usually linked fin-de-siecle worlds--the world of Russia's Jewish community and the restrictions and pogroms suffered by residents; the world of ballet and particularly Diaghilev's Ballets Russes; and the world of Paul Poiret's groundbreaking new approach to French couture. This is also a novel that focuses on a family, a Russian Jewish one torn apart by ethnic prejudice, violence, and a Frenchwoman's desire to get what she wants despite the cost to others.

Much of the early story takes place in the late-nineteenth-century Russian empire, when twin girls are born into a Jewish family already sundered by a politically motivated prison term. Temporarily unable to handle the financial and emotional costs of childcare, the working mother reluctantly takes the twins to the orphanage with the understanding that she will later retrieve them. (This, by the way, was not an uncommon practice for families in trouble back then. My own grandfather's half-brothers spent some time in a Minnesota orphanage after both their mother and their grandmother died, later returning to their father's care.) While the girls are in the orphanage, a Frenchwoman arrives, wanting to adopt a Russian Jewish child to honor her own Russian Jewish ancestor. Sighting the twins, she insists on taking Zaneta against the protests of the caretaker, and renames her Jeannette. This sets in motion the saga of separated twins who both end up working in Paris, with Sonya becoming a seamstress and designer and Jeannette rebelliously becoming a ballet dancer when her adoptive father's family treats her coldly after the death of her adoptive mother. Both women develop complicated relationships with Paul Poiret, and eventually meet and have to deal with their own sisterhood.

I enjoyed reading this, and would definitely recommend it to readers of historical fiction, women's fiction, and readers interested in the Ballets Russes and Paul Poiret's rise to stardom within Paris couture. I was reasonably familiar with the milieu and both the Ballets Russes and Paul Poiret's biography prior to reading the novel, but one doesn't have to know about any of that to enjoy the story. The chapters do jump around somewhat in their chronology, but I rarely found that at all confusing.

My thanks to NetGalley and Regal House for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Breathtaking in scope and historical fiction, but the ending is abrupt in comparison to the depth of detail that preceded it. It needed a stronger editor to push for a more balanced story. The glossary at the end was well done. Would have liked a more subtle presentation of the historical facts. Yes, it was well researched. But it overshadowed the fictional storyline. Thanks to #NetGalley and #WhatDisappears for an advanced digital copy.

If you love historical fiction take a look at #What Disappears by author # Barbara Quick. It begins in Tsarist Russia and ends in Paris. During the time period of WWl.About two twin sisters separated. This is a heart stopping novel.....
Thank you for the advance copy,
# Netgalley and # Regal House Publishing 💜🐾🐾

Twins separated at birth end up meeting in Ana Pavlova's dressing room in the Ballet Russe. Well written with great descriptions of people and places, although a bit difficult to follow the multiple timelines. Overall, good historical fiction.

What Disappears is a historical fiction set in both Russia and Paris during the period preceeding the first world war where things were changing dramatically. It's mainly the story of Sonya and Jeanette who as twins get separated. This is their journey to find each other.
As a premise this book is very promising. However, it falls flat by the end. The constant back and forth between the timelines makes it really difficult to keep a track of the happenings in the story. I did not connect to even one character in the story. I am still trying to get grips on the actions of these two characters.
I wanted to give up on this book but did want to know the ending so finished it, but the ending was not convincing. Not a fan of this book. 2 Stars.
Thank you NetGalley and @regal_house_publishing for an ARC of this book.
⚠️Content Warning: Mention of upsetting prejudice⚠️

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What Disappears by Barbara Quick is a story of two twins born during the late 1880s to middle-class Jewish parents in Tsarist-ruled Russia. Born during a night of violence when many Jews were arrested without cause, as their homes and businesses were demolished. The young birth mother, already struggling to feed her older children and unable to reach her husband, has to place the twin girls in an orphanage until she can figure out their future. While the twins are in the orphanage, a desperate wealthy French woman unable to have children steals one of the twins. The two identical and beautiful twin sisters spend years apart, with one raised as a Jew and the other sister raised as a Catholic. But this story goes much deeper. From Tsarist Russia to WWI, you can see the progressive hate that continuously runs deeply in the culture of the times. It doesn’t seem to matter who is the leader of France, Russia, etc., they want to eradicate Jews. The one twin raised a Catholic has difficulty accepting her Jewish heritage. This reflects society's stigma on those of the Jewish faith. It brings to mind our current world troubles—Wars rage on in the name of religion. There is always someone to blame and no one to save. We are indeed doomed to repeat history. I liked the book and the dynamics of a family thrust together under challenging circumstances. Betrayal, political abuse, poverty, wealth, power, struggle, life, love, and deception. There are so many parts to this compelling story. #Judaism #wars #worldwars #France #Russia #oppression #obsession #family #twins @netgalley @regal_house_publishing #netgalley #whatdisappears
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Thank you to NetGalley, and Regal House Publishing for this ARC; my thoughts and review are my own and without bias. Pub Date: May 13, 2022.

#bookaddict #booksofinstagram #bookhaul #bookstagram #bookstagramer #bookshelf #booksbooksbooks #readersofinstagram #reader #booklove #bookobsessed #instabooks #readABook

Thank you to Net Galley, Regal House Publishing and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
What Disappears’ has a really intriguing premise of twin sisters separated soon after birth, one is adopted by a French family and becomes a ballerina. The other remains with her mother in Russia and becomes a seamstress. By some miracle the two end up crossing paths in Ana Pavlova’s dressing room, both of them now employed by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I have to cap my rating at 3.5 (leaning towards 3) stars. It was an interesting plot filled with exploration into the past and the present and the evolving of the relationship between the twins. However, it felt like there was a long time between them finding each other and the ending of the book. We never really got anywhere. Perhaps if it had been in a linear format it would’ve been more compelling but the flipping back and forth between past and present and Russia and France meant that halfway through chapters I was getting lost “Wait what year is it again?!”

I did enjoy What Disappears’ despite my criticisms. The characters were compelling, and it felt like a very ‘real’ snapshot of life for them. From high fashion, to grief, to love, to family and so much more. I really loved Barbara Quick’s way of dealing with complex emotions in such a compelling way. From the 1880s to the start of World War 1, the world is changing so rapidly that it could be lost in amongst the tale of the two sisters but it’s not, it’s handled brilliantly.

I would absolutely recommend this book, especially if you can keep up with the time and country changes.
Once again thank you to Net Galley, Regal House Publishing and the author for the ARC.

This is a story of twin sisters, separated as babies, who meet each other accidentally through the ballet. One, a seamstress for the company, immediately knows the other is her long lost sister, but the sister, an extra ballerina, doesn't know she was ever a twin or even that she's Jewish.

The story was rich with interesting characters, but the jumps between time periods made it difficult to follow at times and it wasn't always clear which character a new section was following for a paragraph or two.

Despite that, I was very engaged with the story and kept going back to it, wanting to see what would happen next.

My biggest complaint is the time jump at the end. With all Sonya and her family have gone through, we leave them in 1915, the middle of the war where anything could happen, and jump to 1929. There were hints of Sonya losing loved ones and I know my history well enough to wonder if the Spanish Flu got any of them or whether the war itself resulted in family losses, but the ultimate fate of these other characters I had become invested in is never told.

A good Historical Fiction read but it needed more resolution.

Interesting premise; twins separated soon after birth. One is aware she has a twin and the other doesn’t. I thought them finding each other was going to be the main storyline, but it wasn’t. In fact they met at the beginning & it’s backtracks from there. It was a little anticlimactic after that.

The constant back and forth from Paris to Russia, present and past, character to character was jarring & hard to follow. It would be helpful if certain sections/chapters were labeled w/ the character’s name. The story didn’t flow well & character development was lacking.

There’s a lot of name dropping of famous people & descriptions of the fashion of the era showed the author did a lot of research. However, toward the end it was superfluous.

Overall, this started out strong, but didn’t quite make it to even 3 stars for me. Also? I definitely would tweak the cover art before publication.


**ARC courtesy of @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
#netgalley #whatdisappears #barbaraquick #eARC

I really enjoyed this book, it was very well written with a good and obviously well researched storyline and well developed characters., some of which are real people. I was gripped and I couldnt put it down.