The Phoenix Ballroom

​After a brief prologue set in a dilapidated ballroom (“a sleeping beauty waiting for the kiss of life”), two unrelated funerals comprise the opening chapters of this book. The first is for Hawk, the conservative lawyer husband of Venetia Hamilton Hargreaves, a woman in her seventies. The second is for Bernadette, who was the free-spirited mother of the serious forty-something, Liberty Bell, her only child.

Venetia is not only distraught at losing her life partner of nearly fifty years and father of her son, Heron, she is also anxious about her future without Hawk. Heron is already busily organising her - what she should do, and even wear, and talks about getting someone to look after her. She feels a growing rebellion and finds an unexpected ally in her grandson, Kite. Among the mourners are Hawk's two unconventional unmarried sisters, Swan and Nightingale (the Hargreaves family named all their children after birds) and two mysterious men whom Venetia doesn’t know.

Meanwhile, Liberty is dismayed to discover that her mother has placed some unexpected conditions on bequests in her will, and that the solicitor handling her affairs is not at all forthcoming on what Liberty must do in order to inherit. She is also still getting over a long-time affair with a married man and is equally nervous about the future.

When Heron advertises for a live-in companion for Venetia, Liberty is one of the applicants. Although the stuffy Heron prefers someone with more experience and authority, Venetia stands her ground and decides she wants Liberty to be the “granny-nanny”, as Kite calls her.
 
As Venetia and Liberty cautiously embark on their new lives together, they are embraced by other individuals and find themselves in situations where they must make decisions and take control. When Venetia discovers that a local church located in the old building where she once taught ballroom dancing is in crisis, both women find renewed energy and purpose to help fix the situation and, in the process, also make peace with difficult aspects of their previous lives.
 
This is not a novel for the cynic, with its message that anything is possible once you open your heart to change, and its wealth of charming characters including the lively Kite, his nutty aunt Swan, and Evangeline, the gold-hearted woman who runs the church.
 
If you are feeling a little jaded or world-weary then this is definitely a tale that will brighten your day.
 
(With many thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. The novel will be published in June, 2024.)

 
Four and a half stars

 
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Amazon.co.uk (Kindle)
 
Booktopia (Kindle)

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