Frantic Fan Dancer tells the story of an eclectic mix of events that have passionately dealt author Jill St. Clare many hard turns. Being quietly ruthless to her wounded spirit, she fleshed out those events and cradled them kindly amongst whimsical tales and exotic travels. This is not a struggle memoir but rather an outpouring of St. Clares very best, dealing piquantly with family issues and sparing any pretense. It is the unfurling of richly textured experiences for too long held captive in her mind. Most delightfully of all, in discovering her authors voice, she has allowed herself to indulge in her Fathers everyday vernacular. One of my favourite sections of beautiful writing is the first of the Cicada stories, which conveys the childhood heart of things so powerfully. Patti Miller, author of The Mind of a Thief and Whatever the Gods Do