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Not that there’s any great excitement, or, really, any significant plot. But there are many subplots: threads woven together involving people who are so believable that several of them got right under my skin. There’s Roly, for instance, a retired photographer, who has moved to Cornwall to the home where he spent many childhood holidays. He had quite an acrimonious divorce from a rather narcissistic woman called Monika a decade or so back, and thinks he’s in love with a friend called Kate… but she doesn’t reciprocate.
Roly and Monika had one son, Nat, who is now an adult and works as a horticultural specialist. Roly is happy that Nat has found fulfilling, enjoyable work. Monika wants him to work in an office. She also doesn’t like Janna, the rather bohemian and somewhat messed-up young woman who shares Nat’s home - when she’s not away working at markets with her friend Teresa.
Roly’s friend Kate is someone who has appeared in many of Marcia Willett’s previous books, right back to ‘Those who Serve’. In that book, Kate is a young married woman struggling with twin sons, and in a difficult, stressful marriage. In this book she’s a couple of decades older, with grandchildren living not too far away, whom she adores. She has to make some difficult decisions, including whether to sell her house, after losing her second husband.
It’s not at all necessary to have read any of the earlier books by this author, as they all stand alone. But I like the feeling of meeting old friends again, and of seeing what has happened to them. Often people recur as minor characters, but in this one Kate is quite an important cast member.
The ‘Dance’ reference in the book’s title refers to Daisy, a young woman who was training to be a ballet dancer but has had a nasty back injury. She is a former pupil of Roy’s sister Mim, and goes to stay in his guest flat on Mim’s advice, to recuperate somewhat. Much of her story takes place there, but there are also scenes in Bath where she lives with two other dancers, and where she meets a personable man called Paul in the downstairs flat.
The story follows Daisy’s struggles to come to terms with her injury and its repercussions, and the way her friendship with Paul develops. She’s a likeable young woman, and I found her entirely believable. Indeed, other than Monika, most of the people in this book are kind and caring, yet quite distinct. Roly is a peacemaker, his sister Mim much more outspoken. Kate is indecisive, and hasn’t given herself the chance to grieve for her loss.
As for Nat, he is a kind young man whose ‘secret’ I guessed early on - or possibly remembered at a subconscious level. Janna is quite original, with a very difficult past which she mostly overcome, making her long for security and a family. She is full of integrity. I was delighted to remember that Janna re-appears in the later book ‘The Christmas Angel’, although when I first read that I don’t think I had made the connection.
Then there are Kate’s sons Giles and Guy, married respectively to Tessa and Gemma. An important incident referred to in this book was one I read about in, I think, ‘The Birdcage’. A lot happens in Guy and Gemma’s marriage, and I like reading more snippets of it, seeing how their lives pan out.
The writing is good, the pace exactly right for my tastes right now, even if I thought it was a bit slow-moving when I was in my forties. There’s a low-key spiritual element too, which I appreciated, but the author doesn’t preach at all, and these could easily be glossed over.
I would recommend this highly to anyone who enjoys gentle, slow-moving but insightful character-based women’s fiction.
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