Arabesque by MG da Mota | Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway Spotlight
Immigration, loss, resilience — and a friendship strong enough to stand against the world.
💫Welcome back, book friends!
Today I’m delighted to once again spotlight Arabesque by MG da Mota as part of a Goddess Fish Promotions tour—this time with an exclusive excerpt and a giveaway opportunity for readers.
If you enjoy layered emotional narratives, generational echoes, secrets, and friendships forged in hardship, this one deserves your attention.
Keep scrolling for the excerpt and details on how to enter the giveaway!
📚Book Details
Arabesque By M G da Mota
Published by Independently Published on December 2024
Genres: Drama, Historical Fiction, Psychological
Formats: eBook, Hardcover, Paperback
Pages: 386
Arabesque is a step in classic ballet, an appropriate title for a novel narrating the beauty of ballet and the artistry and athleticism involved; with the dancers’ stories depicting everything a romantic ballet should love, passion, obsession, deception, courage, determination, happiness, drama, fun. And sadness.
A woman living alone in a coastal Sussex town in 1998 plants a copper beech sapling at 3 a.m. on a dark, cold night. Why?
A ballet dancer in 1960s East Germany is oppressed, longs for escaping with his little daughter but not his wife. Why? Will he make it?
In 2022 Karsten von Stein, widower and principal of the Royal Ballet, with two young children, meets Ivone Benjamim, a Portuguese, newly-arrived principal dancer. They discover a magical chemistry when dancing and soon it transfers to their private lives.
Against the background of ballet and its dancers, a woman called Grace tells her story from a rehab centre. Obsessive, delusional she begins believing Ivone robbed her of the man of her dreams—Karsten. And then a skeleton is found in a garden...What connects all these people and their stories?
You’ll be the audience facing the stage of this balletic novel.
📜 Exclusive Tour Excerpt from Arabesque
Mum soon grasped the need of finding a job to keep the money coming. She had no qualifications and her English wasn’t so good, having immigrated from one of the poorest areas of Portugal, the North-East province of Trás-os-Montes. The name literally means behind the mountains or, to my mind, beyond civilisation. The village Laura came from, located in the middle of nowhere, was called Pinheiro Novo, New Pine Tree! A name I always thought silly.
My mother was brought up by her grandparents, her own mother having died giving birth to her. And no one knew who her father was. Mum had never taken us to the village where she grew up but always told us it was lovely. I didn’t have the slightest inclination to see it for myself.
Naturally, my mother’s situation in Portugal meant she had no prospects of a decent future there. As a young woman she decided to try her luck, travelling to Britain by bus, train and ferry, with only a small suitcase and little more than enough money for the passage. It didn’t take her long to change her life. She met Pete, our father, and promptly married him. He was taken with her exotic good looks, hair as black as ebony and eyes as blue as the sky on a clear day.
He fell in love with her and it lasted for a while, at least until my birth. But children weren’t his thing. He resented the attention Mum gave us, claiming she neglected him in every possible way. So, after he left, she began working as a cleaner.
My brother and I were looked after by our paternal grandmother or by a sympathetic neighbour who felt sorry for us. Mum worked hard all week, sometimes also weekends, and more often than not arrived home exhausted. But she managed to give us an education, upon which I reflect with some gratitude. Ryan obtained an apprenticeship as a car mechanic and I completed a secretarial course. We were able to find better jobs than Mum’s, which was her objective.
After Ryan got married and went to live in Portugal, I tried to help my mother financially and give her a more carefree life, but the years of hardship she had endured left their toll. In the winter of 2016, shortly after my twenty-fourth birthday, she died of a severe pleurisy that was diagnosed too late.
Although my childhood wasn’t the easiest I knew that complaining or being jealous of others wealthier than me was wrong. Especially in regard to Lacey who had always been a good, generous friend. Our friendship went back to primary school where Lacey’s tough, energetic, brave self often protected me from the local bullies. We had remained friends and been through thick and thin together.
Excerpt provided by the author/publisher for use in this post.
🛒 Where to Find Arabesque
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Available in KINDLE, PAPERBACK, and HARDCOVER.
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About M G da Mota
M G da Mota is Margarida Mota-Bull’s pen name for fiction. She is a Portuguese-British novelist with a love for classical music, ballet and opera. Under her real name she also writes reviews of live concerts, CDs, DVDs and books for two classical music magazines on the web: MusicWeb International and Seen and Heard International. She is a member of the UK Society of Authors, speaks four languages and lives in Sussex with her husband. Her website, called flowingprose.com, contains photos and information.
✍️ Guest Post by the Author of Arabesque
I previously featured a guest post from MG da Mota. Click here to read her explanation of the "Background of the Book."
🎉 Follow the Tour & Enter the Giveaway 🎉
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
Visit the Official Tour Page for Arabesque
Full Tour Schedule
December 1: Sandra's Book Club
December 2: Straight From the Library
December 3: The Avid Reader
December 4: Books1987
December 5: Always Reading
December 8: Dawn's Reading Nook
December 8: Romance Novel Giveaways
December 9: Gina Rae Mitchell
December 10: Sarcastically Yours, Jen
December 11: Locks, Hooks and Books
December 12: Author C.A.Milson
December 15: Sea's Nod
December 16: Joanne Guidoccio
December 17: Long and Short Reviews
December 17: A Wonderful World of Words
December 18: Nanasbookreviews
December 19: Fabulous and Brunette
Having issues with the entry form above? Click here ⬅️
💬 Closing Notes
Thanks for visiting my stop on the tour! Be sure to check back for more excerpts, spotlights, and giveaways — and don’t forget to share this post with a bookish friend who might love Arabesque too.
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[…] Arabesque by MG da Mota | Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway Spotlight […]
Thank you for hosting today.
Hello Gina, I'm M G da Mota, author of Arabesque. Thank you for featuring my book one more time.