London, 1936.
Inside the spectacular Grand Ballroom of the exclusive Buckingham Hotel the rich and powerful, politicians, film stars, even royalty, rub shoulders with Raymond de Guise and his troupe of talented dancers from all around the world, who must enchant them, captivate them, and sweep away their cares. Accustomed to waltzing with the highest of society, Raymond knows a secret from his past could threaten all he holds dear.
Nancy Nettleton, new chambermaid at the Buckingham, finds hotel life a struggle after leaving her small hometown. She dreams of joining the dancers on the ballroom floor as she watches, unseen, from behind plush curtains and hidden doorways. She soon discovers everyone at the Buckingham - guests and staff alike - has something to hide . . .The storm clouds of war are gathering, and beneath the glitz and glamour of the ballroom lurks an irresistible world of scandal and secrets.
Let's dance . . .
Blurb taken from Goodreads.
✼
This book was bought for me purely because I have a massive love of dance. I love watching Strictly Come Dancing, I love watching people perform, and I love to dance myself. So it seemed pretty perfect to get me a book about dancing, written by one of the Strictly professionals! Add into the mix that it's set just before the Second World War, and the history graduate in me is happy too!
And I really did enjoy reading this book. I've been so busy that I've been on a little bit of a book hiatus recently, but this definitely got me back into reading. What I really liked about the book was that it was all just a little bit magical. it's set nearly eighty years ago, in the build-up to Christmas, and it's about finding love, happiness, and peace. It took me a little while to get into the story, as there were a lot of different people to follow, but it was very easy to read, and had a lot of very different, interesting characters to follow. I loved the idea of having Raymond de Guise twirling his way around the grand ballroom of the Buckingham.
Definitely one to read if you love dance, especially at this time of year.
Rating: ✫✫✫✫
SPOILER ALERT
The Story
It did take me a little while to get into this story, purely because there were so many different characters and plot-lines to follow, and all intertwine in different ways. It's surprisingly easy to confuse some of the characters for each other, and I had to pay close attention while I was getting into the book just to make sure I kept a track of who was who.
Once I got into it, however, I really enjoyed reading it. I liked that the story was set in the years before World War 2, because it gave an added dimension to the plot. It wasn't strictly necessary to the story, but the additional information at the end of the book about the intelligence network within the hotel and the involvement of Maynard Charles was an intriguing added bonus!
What really makes the story, though, is the characters and their individual stories; the way they engage with each other, and the way their stories intertwine.
Raymond du Guise: Raymond de Guise is an interesting character, and I thought he was a really great character to carry the plot along. He is in equal parts elegance and sophistication, and rough and ready. His counterpart, Ray Cohen, added a bit more substance to Raymond. It would have been so easy for him to just have been the classic ballroom dancer, with no real background to his character. I liked that his background was not what you might expect, and it did bring him closer to some of the staff in the hotel, such as Nancy and Billy. Ray Cohen is the antithesis of Raymond de Guise, so watching those two characters come together in different ways as one was really interesting. It took me a little while to realise that we were talking about the same person! I loved watching the character evolve.
Nancy Nettleton: Nancy felt like the central character for most of the book. She held the stories together; the worlds of the different people. She was a real underdog, and a stereotypical maid in a busy and bustling hotel environment. I thought she was probably the most real and endearing character in the story, and I enjoyed reading about her the most. It felt natural when she was the focus of the pages, and it was comforting in some ways when the chapters returned to her. I also thought it was beautiful how Raymond and Nancy fell together. She fell for him. Then he for her. Unexpectedly. Slowly, and then all at once. Status and station did not separate them. It was a real little romance. I feel like this could have been emphasised a little more, to witness them actually falling for each other. Everybody loves a romance, and their relationship and how it built could have had more substance within the story to really bring out the magic.
Helene Marchmont: I spent quite a lot of time not being too bothered about the character of Helene, but when I discovered that she had a child, this changed quite dramatically. I sympathised with her, and she ended up being one of my favourite characters. She is largely in the background for most of the book, but she does what she needs to do for the sake of Sybil. I thought she had a really lovely, but also really sad story, and I'm glad she got a happy ending.
Vivienne Edgerton: Vivienne Edgerton was for me probably the most well written character. She wasn't necessarily the kindest or most impressive, but she had flaws and she overcame them. The struggle with drugs, the bringing in of Nathaniel to get back at Raymond - she basically carries the story forward, and without her I don't think the rest of the plot would have had much substance. I think it's so important for there to be flawed characters, who are not necessarily bad people, but who are real. Although a lot of the time she annoyed me, I think Vivienne was in many ways the best character in the story, and the pages that included her were by far the most interesting to read. She is fragile, and a little broken, and she lashes out at times; but she is also a very honest depiction of humanity and its faults. I thought her characterisation was really great.
Nathaniel White: Ugh. Nathaniel, on the other hand, is just bad. Didn't like him. Couldn't stand him. Go away.
Maynard Charles: Maynard Charles has very little substance as a character until near the end, when Raymond discovers that he has been passing intelligence on in the pre-war climate. I think it's such a shame that more wasn't made of his character until this point! It could have been such a dramatic discovery if the reader had had some more investment with him in the earlier chapters. I found myself wishing I had paid more attention to his interactions a lot earlier!
Billy Brogan: Billy Brogan was an interesting character. As with Maynard Charles, it's a shame more wasn't made of him. His family life, with him trying to provide for them, could have been more heavily featured. He also reveals himself to have been a little in love with Nancy, but when he realises she was partial to Raymond, that little piece of information became irrelevant. I wish he could have featured a little more.
It just seemed a little bit like the characters were all fleshed out, but it wasn't written down to its full potential. All of these interesting individuals had really extensive backgrounds, and were all entirely different. Yet we only get little snippets into their lives outside the Buckingham. Knowing the small amounts that I knew about them, I think I would have liked to have learnt more. I had a similar issue with the opening excerpt, where the reader is introduced to the Buckingham ballroom, and the principal dancer lowers his mask. It's a dramatic moment, and I fully expected the build up to what actually happened to be explosive, and that this moment was going to be a real shock. Yet when we actually got to that moment chronologically, it wasn't really a surprise at all. It was clear that it was going to be Raymond by that point, so I didn't really understand why that was built up in the beginning to be a really big moment. Again, it seemed like the idea was there, but it didn't have enough ground work to pull it off completely successfully.
However, what I really loved was the actual feel of the story more than anything else. It was beautiful and magical, and everything I wanted from the story when I'd first looked at the cover and read the blurb. All of the characters just wanted to be with their family and loved ones, wanted to dance, wanted to find peace and be happy. I think some of the themes and messages in the book were really special to read about, and it did make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I think that's the real power of the book. It did have elements that I felt could have used some improvement in the advancement of the plot, but the feel of the book was what really made me enjoy it. I put the book down at the very end of reading it with a big smile on my face.
The Verdict
I picked this book up and expected it to be really magical and special. And I really adored the setting of the story, in the grand Buckingham hotel with a troupe of ballroom dancers, ready for Christmas and the New Year. This, supported by a host of other characters - guests, staff, and families - really made it feel festive to read.
And these characters were all so interesting. It was clear that a lot of thought had gone into their stories, their backgrounds, and the moments that led them to the people that they now were. You could see fully formed characters leaping out of the page. My problem was more that this wasn't written about enough. I was so interested by these different characters that I wanted to know more about them. A lot of details about their lives were mentioned and then never touched upon again, which I thought was a real shame!
Nevertheless, though, I thought that the real beauty of the book was in its ability to feel magical. Dance has always been something that I've found special, and the atmosphere of the book was really enchanting. It makes you feel good, and it makes you believe in those special moments. I would definitely read any further stories like this in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment