Had it been possible, Bill Keenan would have given his tutu, tights and bloody socks a fist bump. His injured ballerina costume had grabbed the attention of Olivia MacKinnon, an actual ballerina dressed as Barbie, during a 2019 Halloween party to the point that the pretend dancer and real one chatted for 15 pleasant minutes. Seven years later, Keenan and Olivia MacKinnon, the ballerina who caught his eye, married.
The Swan and the Sentinel, Keenan’s first novel, will be published on June 16. His wife is the book’s unofficial contributing editor, tasked with fact-checking its ballet scenes.