Our Dancing Days - Softcover

English, Lucy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841152412 ISBN 13: 9781841152417

Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

When Don, an aristocratic young Notting Hill bohemian, inherits St. John's, a run-down medieval manor house in the depths of the Suffolk countryside, he decides to form a commune with Tessa, an artist, and her friend Deedee. They have an idealist's dream of self-sufficiency, sharing, and harmony that seems initially to succeed. It is only when they try to build on this fantasy by introducing others—the mesmerizing and charismatic Jack, and single mother Helen and her disturbed small daughter Beauty—that the balance is upset. Tensions emerge and friction builds until a tragic accident finally separates them. Years later, Tessa returns to the house to face the tragedy that made her flee St. John's and come to terms with the fact that her friends betrayed her.

About this title

About the Author:

Lucy English was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in London. She studied English and American Literature at the University of East Anglia and has an MA in Creative Writing. She works on a city farm in Bristol, is a performance poet and has three children. She is the author of two earlier novels, SELFISH PEOPLE and CHILDREN OF LIGHT.

From Booklist:

Peace, love, and understanding give way to poverty, loathing, and uncertainty in English's flawless depiction of counterculture communal life during the heady, hedonistic sixties. Tessa, Dee-Dee, and Don abandon London's sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll scene when Don inherits a ramshackle estate in the remote English countryside. Their idyllic dream of a self-sustaining, utopian community turns into a self-defeating nightmare as first Jack, then Helen and her daughter, Beauty, intrude, imposing their wills and weaknesses upon the fragile trio. High tensions precede dark tragedy and bitter accusations succeed blatant betrayal as everything the commune once stood for, as well as everything its denizens once believed in, is destroyed. Decades later, St. John's is reincarnated as a refined manor home, and when Tessa revisits the site where her innocence was lost, she discovers her true self in the ruins of a fantasy that died under reality's harsh glare. English's emotionally charged evocation of controversial times and turbulent lifestyles resonates with a haunted, brooding atmosphere redolent with subtle yet dramatic undertones. Carol Haggas
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1841152412
• ISBN 13: 9781841152417
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256