Ballet Shoes for Anna - Noel Streatfeild

Sitting on the caravan steps, Anna gazed at the thousands of birds collecting on the hillside.

Then suddenly, as if someone had fired a starting pistol, the birds took to the air and like a thick, black cloud flew away. Something, Anna sensed, was very wrong; something terrible was about to happen.

That appalling earthquake was to change her carefree life completely. But the one thing she did cling to was her desire to be a dancer. Aided and abetted by her older brothers, she battles with the hazards of raising money in a strange country and with their uncle’s steely opposition to her ambition.