Shall we dance? Or is that insane?
THE BALLROOM
by Anna Hope
(Doubleday £12.99) SHARSTON asylum in Yorkshire has a ballroom where inmates meet to dance under the supervision of Dr Charles Fuller, whose love of music runs alongside his deep interest in eugenics.
It may be 1911, but the asylum is still conducted along harsh Victorian lines, when the treatment of the so-called feeble-minded was brutal, and the segregation of the sexes draconian.
If seemingly humane and enlightened, Fuller’s dance initiative is therefore risky and, indeed, when John Mulligan and Ella Fay meet at one of these sessions, they are drawn to each other inexorably.
The Ballroom has all the intensity and lyricism of Hope’s debut, Wake. At its heart is a tender and absorbing love story that is battling against circumstance, but it also holds up a mirror to the moral and philosophical preoccupations of the period.
The reflection is not one of which we should be proud.
THE BUTCHER’S HOOK
by Janet Ellis
(Two Roads £14.99) ACTRESS and former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis has created a surprising blend of psychological thriller and revenge tragedy in her debut novel.
Unhappy in her loveless home and still mourning the death of her baby brother, 19-year-old Anna is destined for an arranged marriage to a rich but dubious fop.
Restricted by her gender, class and lack of education, she has no power over her future. Then she claps eyes on Fub, a butcher’s apprentice, and suddenly her life is charged with passion and intensity.
The London of 1763 provides the backdrop to this dark and disturbing story of sexual awakening, unbridled lust and moral unravelling.
In Vanity Fair, Thackeray demonstrated how society determines character, and this suggestion underlies Ellis’s robust and textured vision of the Georgian mindset. But from it emerges an unsettling portrait of a deeply damaged individual whose capacity for creating mayhem is timeless. IF I COULD TELL YOU by Elizabeth Wilhide
(Fig Tree £12.99) JULIA COMPTON is 32 and living quietly with her older husband, Richard, and 11-year-old son, Peter, in a Suffolk seaside town.
In 1939, war is declared. Director Dougie Birdsall and his documentary film unit arrive in the area to make a feature on the local fishing industry and Julia falls in love with him.
When Richard discovers her adultery he throws her out and, leaving behind her son, Julia follows Dougie to London, now being blasted by the Blitz.
What makes this story stand out is its absolute honesty. There is no false sentimentality, plenty of unflinching observation and some excellent writing.
The passion between the couple is not in doubt, but neither are their flaws and the fleeting nature of lust. On the downside, the finale arrives out of the blue and the framing device is clumsy, but her detail is truly superb.
Wartime Britain has been rarely so skilfully evoked.