They practice for years in cold, dark rinks with a single dream; they train for decades for one moment: to skate onto the ice with the whole world watching to try to win the Olympic gold medal. If they stumble, the gold is gone. If they succeed, their lives can be changed forever. In "Edge of Glory" Christine Brennan tells the riveting stories of the world's best figure skaters as they travel through the most intense year of their young lives. As she did in the bestselling "Inside Edge," Brennan goes backstage at major competitions and behind the scenes at the practice rinks to chronicle the figure skaters' quest for victory at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. The year opens with the 1997 U.S. national championships in Nashville, where the teenage Michelle Kwan, a favorite for the Olympic gold medal, dissolves on the ice during a wrenching four-minute performance.

As Kwan bursts into tears leaving the rink, tiny Tara Lipinski arrives on the ice and steals the show. The crowd roars, and a new ice queen -- all seventy-five pounds of her -- is crowned. Tara shrieks in delight as she begins a run of historic victori.