The Ballroom – Anna Hope – Genre – Contemporary / Historical Fiction
Blurb: Set over the heatwave summer of 1911, the end of the Edwardian era, THE BALLROOM is a tale of unlikely love and dangerous obsession, of madness and sanity, and of who gets to decide which is which.
Where love is your only escape ….
1911: Inside an asylum at the edge of the Yorkshire moors,
where men and women are kept apart
by high walls and barred windows,
there is a ballroom vast and beautiful.
For one bright evening every week
they come together
and dance.
When John and Ella meet
It is a dance that will change
two lives forever.
My review: I normally read fast paced thrillers and this is not my preferred genre but every now and then I like to step out of my comfort zone and read a book that I’ve heard good things about. The Ballroom is set in 1911 and tells the emotional story of a few characters and their lives inside an asylum at the edge of the Yorkshire moors. The men and woman are kept apart, except for one night a week (if they’re lucky), when they all get together in the ballroom for a dance. This a slow and beautifully atmospheric story which is told through the 3 main characters. A moving story of love and hope and despair.
About the Author: Anna Hope is an English writer and actress from Manchester. She is perhaps best known for her Doctor Who role of Novice Hame. She was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, and Birkbeck College, London.
