A collection of essays about Sir Frederick Ashton's great classic ballet, originally published shortly after the ballet's first performances and containing material by some of those most intimately connected with the ballet's gestation, including the designer, Osbert Lancaster, the score arranger John Lanchbery and the choreographer himself.

Sir Frederick Ashton's La Fille mal gardee is one of the most popular and successful ballets of the twentieth century. Based on an eighteenth century work which survived only in bastardised form, Ashton's choreographic genius was able to transform this dross into pure gold. In this book the ballet is discussed by some of those intimately connected with the work's creation: Ashton himself, the designer Osbert Lancaster, the musical arranger John Lanchbery, and the ballerina Nadia Nerina, while the historical perspective is provided by Tamara Karsavina, Winifred Edwards, Ivor Guest, Lilian Moore, and Marina Grut.