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.
