A Dance in Time
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Click on the Image to Buy The BookWhat I Think
At one level, A Dance in Time, (like Lovers’ Hollow) is a whodunnit. A selfish man has been murdered, poisoned by his medication. Who is responsible? The two chief suspects are his daughter, Izzy, who at the beginning of the novel has been arrested and charged with the crime, and her daughter, Star.
A number of things about Martin Mulcahy might have brought either woman to murder. Damaged by war and his life in early 20th century Ireland, he was an abusive father and grandfather. To understand why he died and who killed him, we need to go back into the past.
Our guide for the journey is Martin’s daughter, Iseult “Izzy” Mulcahy, (with interjections from Star). Rather than face the reality of her situation, Izzy - always a dreamer — escapes into another story, that of her namesake, Iseult Gonne.
Spinning A Yarn
In Ireland, the expression “spinning a yarn” is a synonym for telling a story. The yarns I spin are multi-braided: stories within stories. Their form acknowledges what seems to me a fundamental truth: that we do not own our own bodies or own lives. We are intimately connected to - and have a responsibility to - our ancestors and our descendants.
The other Iseult about whom Izzy writes was a real historical figure, the illegitimate daughter of Maud Gonne. Maud was famous in Ireland and throughout Europe and America at the beginning of the twentieth century for three things — her great beauty, her revolutionary exploits on behalf of Ireland and her role as muse to WB Yeats, one of the world’s great poets. Iseult, her daughter, is an altogether more shadowy figure but during her life, she inspired instense admiration for her fey beauty and startling originality. Izzy’s interest in Iseult is more than intellectual curiosity; she is haunted by certain links between their lives.
As well as recounting her own past, Izzy sets out to tell Iseult’s story — from her alleged conception in the crypt of her dead brother to her coming of age as a writer in a star-studded literary mileu. Surrounded by men who desired her, including her mother’s beau Yeats, and other well-known writers like Ezra Pound and Francis Stuart, Iseult Gonne struggled all her life to establish a firm sense of self.
In the interweaving lives of these two Iseults, shared themes echo and shadow each other across the years.
Mother/daughter theme
The novel is my exploration of the complexity of the mother-daughter relationship. Both Iseults, and Maud and Star, are caught within this complexity.
Another Irish writer, Edna O’Brien, once said: “If you want to know what I regard as the principal crux of female despair, it is this: in the Greek myth of Oedipus and in Freud’s exploration of it, the son’s desire for his mother is admitted; the infant daughter also desires its mother but it is unthinkable, either in myth, in fantasy or in fact, that that desire can be consummated.” I agree — so much so that I used this as an epigraph for A Dance in Time.
The theme broadens out to explore, much as Lovers’ Hollow did, all manners of intimate struggle: male and female, parent and child, inner and outer worlds. Ultimately, it tells the story of how one woman managed to break free of those struggles and appreciate her dance in time — while she was living it.
Writing, Inspiration & Creativity
At another level, this novel is my tribute to writing. As well as ransacking and plundering the published and private writings of Yeats, Pound, Francis Stuart and Maud and Iseult Gonne for details of scene, character, action and dialogue, almost every chapter contains an overt or hidden tribute to another writer who has been influential in my own development - writers as disparate as Wallace Stegner, Carol Shields, John McGahern, Janet Fitch and many, many others.
I think of it as a formal appreciation of the gift which writing has been in my own life as well as an exploration of the tensions between “The Writing” and “The Life”, which all writers are familiar with.
Again, as with the mother-daughter theme, the creativity motif radiates outwards from the writing process to an exploration of the processes by which anything is created - a poem (Yeats), a country (Maud), a book (Izzy), a marriage (Star), a new-age business (Zach), a garden (Iseult). A relationship. A life.
As Izzy and her daughter face each other down across her father’s corpse, the threads of the story knit together in an unexpected way which makes redemption a possibility — for those who are open to it.
What Others Think
A Dance in Time is currently available in trade paperback in Ireland and online only. The mass paperback will appear in the UK in Spring 2009. Here are a selection of some of the first reviews:
The Irish Independent: “…Ross has ransacked (her word) the best scholarly sources for her facts and ingeniously knitted a complex tale of betrayal, revenge, suspense, murder mystery — and surprise. One key event pounced on this cynical novel-reader utterly without warning… Orna Ross’ first novel, Lovers’ Hollow, was an account of two families caught up in the Civil War continuing up to the 1990s and at over 650 pages it was a big popular read. A Dance in Time is another big read but this is no mass-produced chick-lit. In this wild, gamey, bodice-ripper John McGahern meets Maeve Binchy.” Full Review: Here
The Irish Emigrant: “…At more than six hundred pages this is not pool-side book, but a book to be read with attention and savoured… perseverance that is amply rewarded in the final chapters.”
The Bookbag: “…I don’t often beg authors for a review copy of their book but having read Lovers’ Hollow, Orna’s debut novel, I made an exception for this book. Lovers’ Hollow had a delicate balance of fact and fiction which kept me riveted from beginning to end and I was keen to see if Orna could maintain the standard with her next book. I gave Lovers’ Hollow five stars and A Dance in Time deserves no less – in fact this book is altogether more skilful … it is infinitely rewarding. Pull the delicate strands of the relationships and see how the present mirrors the past, see how history repeats itself. It’s superb. Full review: Here
Amazon.co.uk: “This is a magnificent book spanning decades, countries, cultures and people. It is exquisitely written with the author showing a light touch where required… The historical passages are littered with interesting titbits and gossip of the time. The characters are well drawn and realised, even if this reader did want to give one of the main characters a slap in an attempt to stop her moaning and complaining. Without a shadow of a doubt I can recommend this book to all, go on and buy it, you will enjoy it.” Full review: Here
RTE Guide: Orna Ross’s second novel is crafted with the skill of a veteran and the suspense is built with perfection. The character of Izzy is so compelling and interesting that she stays in your mind long after you’ve read the last page. The book is epic and tackles difficult issues with skill and sensitivity. This work of fiction leaves you not only wiser about events in history but also about the issues surrounding the complicated heroine.
The Irish Independent: “…Ross has ransacked (her word) the best scholarly sources for her facts and ingeniously knitted a complex tale of betrayal, revenge, suspense, murder mystery — and surprise. One key event pounced on this cynical novel-reader utterly without warning… Orna Ross’ first novel, Lovers’ Hollow, was an account of two families caught up in the Civil War continuing up to the 1990s and at over 650 pages it was a big popular read. A Dance in Time is another big read but this is no mass-produced chick-lit. In this wild, gamey, bodice-ripper John McGahern meets Maeve Binchy.” Full Review: Here
The Irish Emigrant: “…At more than six hundred pages this is not pool-side book, but a book to be read with attention and savoured… perseverance that is amply rewarded in the final chapters.”
The Bookbag: “…I don’t often beg authors for a review copy of their book but having read Lovers’ Hollow, Orna’s debut novel, I made an exception for this book. Lovers’ Hollow had a delicate balance of fact and fiction which kept me riveted from beginning to end and I was keen to see if Orna could maintain the standard with her next book. I gave Lovers’ Hollow five stars and A Dance in Time deserves no less – in fact this book is altogether more skilful … it is infinitely rewarding. Pull the delicate strands of the relationships and see how the present mirrors the past, see how history repeats itself. It’s superb. Full review: Here
Amazon.co.uk: “This is a magnificent book spanning decades, countries, cultures and people. It is exquisitely written with the author showing a light touch where required… The historical passages are littered with interesting titbits and gossip of the time. The characters are well drawn and realised, even if this reader did want to give one of the main characters a slap in an attempt to stop her moaning and complaining. Without a shadow of a doubt I can recommend this book to all, go on and buy it, you will enjoy it.” Full review: Here
RTE Guide: Orna Ross’s second novel is crafted with the skill of a veteran and the suspense is built with perfection. The character of Izzy is so compelling and interesting that she stays in your mind long after you’ve read the last page. The book is epic and tackles difficult issues with skill and sensitivity. This work of fiction leaves you not only wiser about events in history but also about the issues surrounding the complicated heroine.