Grannyjacq1
This is the best book I have read for ages. Finishing it off on the beach this afternoon, at the end of a September heatwave – just like the one described in the novel in 1911 – I happened to see a teenage girl who clearly had both mental and physical disabilities. She was being looked after by two carers, who were singing and playing with her on the beach. Clearly, the young girl was having a wonderful time. It made me think about how different her life would have been if she had had this disability 100 years ago. Instead of enjoying the freedom of a beach, she would have been locked away from society, as girls like Ella and Clem were – separated from nature and other people by high walls and barred windows. Churchill’s disturbing plans for compulsory sterilisation and the ‘Feeble Minded Bill’ (eventually passed as the Mental Deficiency Act in 1913) form the historical backdrop to this absorbing and beautifully written novel.
I loved everything about this novel and found the three ‘voices’ convincing and engaging – even Charles, who also seemed to be a victim of circumstances with his unsympathetic family and repressed homosexual desires. Each was trapped in their own particular way. The violence which permeates the novel is frightening – especially the forced feeding of patients. Hope writes superbly about emotions as well as the landscape/weather, with the two often reflecting each other in a way which reminded me of some of DH Lawrence’s prose. Although the 3 narratives were written in the third person, Hope captures their individual ‘voices’ very well, with use of dialect words and Polari enhancing this.
I know one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or title, and this sounds like a very ‘gendered’ comment – sorry - but I wonder how many male readers would be put off reading this by the title and cover? I know my husband would enjoy reading it, as he used to work as a nursing auxiliary in a mental hospital in Yorkshire during the holidays when he was a student, but a cursory glance at the cover made him think that I was reading another Jane Austen novel. I can see why it was called ‘The Ballroom’ – but I wonder if Anna Hope had considered any other possible titles?
I will certainly go on to read ‘Wake’, and any other novels which Hope is planning to write. Like some of the other bookclub readers, I also think this would make an excellent film.
Hi Grannyjacq - oh I did indeed consider other titles. In fact, I considered loads. I agree that some titles can seem gendered and perhaps put off male readers. In the end though, The Ballroom felt right, simply because it was the pictures of the ballroom that had been the first inspiration to begin writing, the thing that had first hooked me in.