Dance of the Earth

Written by Anna M. Holmes
Review by Jinny Webber

In 1875, a newborn baby girl is found outside the Alhambra theatre in London. The seamstress Molly Banbury takes her home, names her Rose, and raises her as her own, beginning this saga of a talented, spirited family spanning five decades. We see London at its glittering best in the early 20^th century, where dance and music drive the characters’ dreams and their very sense of identity. Rose grows up backstage, loving colors, studying dance, and setting her heart on a prince. A beautiful young woman, she becomes a star performer at the Alhambra. In the next generation, Nina, who leapt and pranced through her own backstage childhood, becomes part of Sergei Diaghilev’s ballets. We see those striking innovations from the dancer’s perspective as the choreography, costumes, design, and music created by Diaghilev’s brilliant collaborators put his ballets in the vanguard of European avant-garde art.

This story alone would make a fascinating book, but Dance of the Earth is a more layered novel, reflecting the social changes in that vibrant era. Class barriers have begun to break down; women are fighting for the vote and the Labour party for workers. Then World War I shatters all this creative cultural and artistic ferment. Young men flock to enlist, sure it will be a short battle, but the realities of trench warfare and the bombing of London go beyond anyone’s imagination, leaving physical and spiritual devastation in their wake. Somehow love and creativity must salvage the broken ones.

This is a fast-paced novel, chapters alternating between characters, intensifying the suspense and emotional impact. Highly recommended for Holmes’s lively style and engaging characters who each in their own way defy convention, especially when it comes to love.