A Dance for Emilia is about losing friends and loved ones. Jacob and Sam were best friends from forever ago. Their planned escapades in old age are cut short when Sam passes away unexpectedly. Sam's girlfriend, Emilia, is also left behind. She quickly bonds with Jacob as they share their memories of Sam over the course of two years. But unbeknownst to them, their sharing has been calling Sam back from the dead. He inhabits the body of Millamant, his old Abyssinian cat. While they are happy to have him back (even in this strange form), Sam isn't able to stay. And so he performs one last beautiful dance for Emilia before leaving her and Jacob forever.
A Dance for Emilia is based off of Beagle's real life struggle to cope with losing a friend. I didn't know that at the time I started reading it, but it was the perfect thing for me to read right now. As I mentioned in my last post, my cat recently passed away; I found myself feeling like Emilia does in the book, wanting Sam to come back (and not wanting to let him go once he does come back). While I didn't think it was as good as The Last Unicorn, I really enjoyed reading A Dance for Emilia and am looking forward to reading more of Beagle's work.
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