Ice Charades: Penguins Behaving Badly and Other Follies From the Road

Think skating in an ice show is glamorous?

Ice Charades reveals the sharp blades, thin ice, empty wallets and emptier stomachs backstage.

It's 1983 and Sue isn't sure she'll survive her employment in Follies On Ice. One day she nearly suffocates inside a giant penguin costume, the next she's sniffing food as a cheap way to diet. She thought traveling in a European ice show would be an easy and exciting way to fulfill her childhood dream. She only plans to take one year off from college - her version of a junior year abroad. Instead of academics, she's getting schooled in eight-hour days in skates, ten-second six-piece costume changes and the perils of a backstage romance.


"This book is a charmer. Jenny Hall has crafted a delightful coming-of-age story of a young woman and her sometimes comical, sometimes heart-wrenching journey to find love and ultimately herself. You don't have to be interested in figure skating to appreciate the colorful characters and their adventures on the road trip of a lifetime."

Nikki Nichols Cunningham, Author of
Frozen in Time: The Enduring Legacy of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team