Ballroom A Novel
Ballroom A Novel by Alice Simpson is a reprint edition published by HarperCollins on September 15, 2015, featuring 304 pages in English. This debut novel unfolds through interconnecting stories that explore the lives of a group of strangers who seek solace from their complicated realities in a faded New York City dance hall. Set at the end of the 1990s, the narrative captures the essence of the Ballroom, where loyal patrons gather each Sunday evening to escape their mundane lives through the magic of music and dance.
Readers will encounter characters such as Sarah Dreyfus, who yearns for love, and Gabriel Katz, who dances to mask his marital troubles. The story also follows Joseph, who hopes to capture Sarah’s attention, and Harry Korn, an elderly dance instructor with dreams of happiness alongside the talented Maria Rodriguez. As their lives intertwine within the Ballroom’s worn walls, the novel delves into themes of connection, longing, and the pursuit of dreams amidst the backdrop of a vibrant yet fading social scene.
Official synopsis Publisher
Told in interconnecting stories, Ballroom is a beautifully crafted debut novel—reminiscent of the works of Elizabeth Strout and Jennifer Haigh—about a group of strangers united by a desire to escape their complicated lives, if only for a few hours each week, in a faded New York City dance hall.
Time has eroded the glamour of the Ballroom, but at the end of the 1990s, a small crowd of loyal patrons still makes its way past the floor-to-ceiling columns which frame the once grand hall each Sunday evening. Sweeping across the worn parquet floor under a peeling indigo ceiling, these men and women succumb to the magic of the music, looking for love and connection, eager to erase the drab reality of their complicated lives.
Nearly forty and still single, Sarah Dreyfus is desperate for love and sure she’ll find it with debonair Gabriel Katz, a dazzling peacock who dances to distract himself from his crumbling marriage. Tired of the bachelor life, Joseph believes that his yearning for a wife and family will be fulfilled—if only he can get Sarah to notice him. Besotted with beautiful young Maria Rodriguez, elderly dance instructor Harry Korn knows they can find happiness together. Maria, one of the Ballroom’s stars, has a dream of her own, a passion her broken-hearted father refuses to accept or understand.
As the rhythms of the Ballroom ebb and flow through these characters’ hearts, their fates come together in touching, unexpected ways.
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