Echoes of the Dance: A Novel

by Marcia Willett

Overview

In the mellow stone house of his childhood, Roly Carradine has found refuge from a broken marriage. Here he welcomes Kate, who has just lost her husband, and young Daisy Quin, a dancer recovering from a back injury. Roly's son Nat lives not far away, and he must suffer visits of his unsympathetic mother Monica, Roly's ex-wife. All seek peace and quiet, but the disclosure of a secret proves that life is not so simple. . . .

Treating Marcia Willett's ardent fans to a return visit with some of her most endearing characters from previous books, Echoes of the Dance is a gem of a story to be savored.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312539634
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/17/2009
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.24(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Born in Somerset, in the west country of England, Marcia Willett was the youngest of five girls. Echoes of the Dance is her seventh book to be published in the United States by Thomas Dunne Books; other titles include A Week in Winter, A Summer in the Country, The Children's Hour, The Birdcage, First Friends, A Friend of the Family, The Courtyard, and Second Time Around.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Marcia Willett

“Deservedly compared to Binchy and Pilcher, Willett is an equally gifted storyteller.”

- Booklist on The Birdcage

“With an agile mastery of multiple story lines and an uncanny knack for creating sympathetic characters, Willett winsomely creates congenial worlds that welcome loyal fans and new readers with ease.”

- Booklist on Echoes of the Dance

“Tender and moving, Willett’s tale expertly weaves a family’s past and present together to illustrate the strength of familial bonds . . . a memorable and emotional read to be savored.”

- Romantic Times on The Children’s Hour

From the Publisher

For her latest warmhearted take on love, change and relationships, Willett brings back Kate Webster (First Friends; A Friend of the Family), now a newly widowed grandmother living in Cornwall not far from Roly Carradine, a retired London photographer. While trying to persuade grieving Kate to adopt his newest stray dog, Floss, Roly agrees to take in a stray person, Daisy Quin, who, like Roly's sister, Mim, years before, has just suffered an accident that threatens to end her dancing career. Mim became a successful and beloved dancing instructor and wants to help Daisy follow her example, but Daisy is not ready to face that she may never dance again, or that the man she's in love with is not all he seems. Likewise, Roly's manipulative ex-wife, Monica, still pines for him; Roly retains a guilty secret; and Roly and Monica ignore the fact that their son, Nat, has secrets of his own. Chez Willett, friends help friends when they get "wumbled" (worried and jumbled) while courtship and marriage just wumble things up. Willett gets a bit wumbled herself, overexplaining the psychology of her characters and avoiding a happily-ever-after ending by substituting stagy sentimentality. Appealing, durable, human characters like Kate, Roly, Mim and Daisy deserve better. (Apr.)

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Publishers Weekly