Back in the 1990s, when the first biography of Celia Franca was attempted, the haughty ballet diva snatched half the advance money the publisher gave to author Frank Rasky and demanded “complete control” over the final product. Rasky died before the book was finished, and the project was shelved. Perhaps that’s for the best, because in its place we have a brutally frank biography by dance historian Carol Bishop-Gwyn, a book worthy of its subject, whom former Globe and Mail editor Richard Doyle dubbed “The Great Bitch.”

Franca was an up-and-coming ballerina in England when she was recruited by a handful of wealthy ballet enthusiasts to come to Canada to help found a national ballet company. In 1950, amid a cloud of cigarette smoke and chutzpah, the 29-year-old tyrant-to-be stepped off a plane in Toronto wearing her trademark theatrical makeup – white face, red lips, and pencilled eyebrows – ready to lead what became the National Ballet of Canada. Franca immediately announced that, as artistic director of the troupe, only she, and not the board, would make all the important decisions.

Once ensconced in power, Franca ruthlessly stomped on many people, often reducing dancers and other colleagues to tears. As long-time helpmate Betty Oliphant remarked: “I was always keeping morale up and she was always destroying it.” When all was said and done, Franca could take most of the credit for launching the company and ensuring its early years were successful. But the price was high.

Franca’s personal life was a shambles. She seemed reluctant to acknowledge her Jewish ancestry. She ditched her first two husbands after brief, childless marriages while the third husband, James Morton, the one she seemed to love most, dumped her, leaving her alone in the final bedridden years before her death in Ottawa at age 85.

You do not have to be a ballet fan to enjoy The Pursuit of Perfection, which overflows with triumphs and tragedies both onstage and off. Franca is such a unique and fascinating character it is difficult at times to remember the book is a thoroughly researched biography and not a work of fiction.