The Ballroom

Description

"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. Set over the heatwave summer of 1911, the end of the Edwardian era, THE BALLROOMis a tale of unlikely love and dangerous obsession, of madness and sanity, and of who gets to decide which is which."

Promotion info

The new novel from the acclaimed author of WAKE - a story of love and madness at the brink of the Great War

Reviews

"A British version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Moving. Fascinating" Times "An unsentimental and affecting story" Sunday Times "Compelling, elegant and insightful." Observer "In this deeply moving book, Hope reminds us that behind everyone's facade lies something waiting to be rent free" Irish Times "An original, brilliant, evocative novel" Chris Cleave "A heartbreaking story of how love can flourish in the darkest of times" Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Bookseller "Part social commentary, part mystery and part dangerous liaison, this poignant story casts an unflinching gaze at the historic treatment of mental health disorders." Financial Times "Such a magnificent setting definitely demands a story that delivers, all guns blazing. It does, and then some ... Fiction at it's finest." Irish Independent "Beautiful" Stylist "An exquisite love story" Good Housekeeping "A terrifying, moving and uplifting story" -- February Hot Read Woman and Home "A poignant against-the-odds love story" Glamour "Tender ... Hope is the emotion that unspools the delicate connections between these brilliantly drawn characters" Psychologies Magazine "The Ballroom is a beautifully wrought novel, a tender, heartbreaking and insightful exploration of the longings that survive in the most inhospitable environments." Sunday Express 5/5 stars "Magnificent...a luminary of historical fiction...writing history from the margins, the personal stories behind the era, she delivers profound, poignant stories that stir the emotions." Press Association "All the intensity and lyricism of Hope's debut, Wake" Daily Mail "The Ballroom confirms her as a novelist of immense power...Exquisitely good. Sensitive, engrossing and highly recommended" Metro "The Ballroom is a beautiful, gripping, heart-wrenching, thought-provoking book. I was so enthralled, I read it in an evening, unwilling to put it down." thewritesofwoman.wordpress.com "An atmospheric and thought provoking love story" bookslifeandeverything.blogspot.co.uk "An absorbing read from beginning to end ... I'm already excited to see what Anna Hope does next." thetattooedbook.blogspot.co.uk