There should be more dancing is a mildly amusing story by Rosalie Ham about old age. The main character is Margery Blandon, a woman of strong principles but rather naïve. She is an elderly widow who has lived in the same house for decades with mostly the same neighbours. Consequently everyone knows a great deal too much about everyone else. Margery has three adult children who have not turned out as well as she had hoped. Although she cares deeply for them, she rarely shows it in ways her children appreciate.
Rosalie Ham cleverly shows two sides to Margery’s character. The unemotional apparently nonchalant side that Margery’s friends and children experience and the internal side where she is a caring mother who grieves the loss of her twin sister who died when Margery was young.
Rosalie writes in an easy to read, enjoyable style and manages to keep the reader guessing as to what Margery’s future holds, which turns out to be rather an anti-climax but completely realistic. The story explores the long term effects of unresolved grief and loss in childhood which leaves ongoing repercussions in Margery’s life.
While there was nothing particularly startling in the story, it was well written enjoyable tale.
