Publisher's Synopsis
Two lovely Ukrainian dancers are forced to dance in the local marketplace to supplement their parents' meager income, not by choice but because of their families' poverty. Caught up in a web of deceit, sex, and tyranny, they are forced to flee the country of their birth, to a country where they have no knowledge of the language. Before escaping, one of the girls is raped by the son of her father's landlord.
Their youth and beauty cause problems on the ship taking them to the new land. A foiled assault on one of the girls by the ship's drunken doctor forces them to keep away from the crew until they disembark in England. Fellow passengers excitedly tell the two girls about the districts of London, especially the West End because it has so much more to offer, culture and, of course, the famous theatres.
Arriving with very little money, they are befriended by a Russian tea shop owner who finds them work in his restaurant's kitchen. To supplement the girls' low income, they both dance once again in the streets to earn extra money to pay the rent at their boarding house in Soho. Prostitution is rampant in this section of Soho. It is the turn of the twentieth century, and the young immigrants have to make a new life despite the obstacles that stand in their way. The friendly landlady warns them to avoid Soho at night because of the streetwalkers and their patrons.
Finally they succeed in their endeavors and reach the heights of success that they could only dream of upon arriving in a new country. Tragedy strikes in the lives of both friends. Overcoming several major setbacks, they rise to the top of their chosen careers-one in show business and the other in affairs of state.
Adversities continue to impact the lives of both girls. They arrange travel to America, France, Hungary, Spain, and Russia to work and to locate lost relatives. Luckily, love comes at last; but tragedy still haunts
them. This story takes you behind the scenes of the theatre, the motion picture industry, and the political environment of the time. Will these young women ever find the happiness that they deserve?
