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| Plot Summary of A Time to Dance |
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"“A Time to Dance� is a letter written by a 54-year-old man to the 18-year-old girl he is obsessively in love with. Several shorter letters shorter letters to him from the girl, Bernadette, and from his wife are quoted in full.
The narrator, a bank manager with a month to go until retirement, is a member of a Rotary team judging essays. The unlikely winner in Bernadette Kennedy. The Kennedy family is reputed to be among the roughest in a rough part of town. One of the other two judges predicts that the Kennedy family will spend the prize money on drink, yet Bernadette's essay is clearly the best of the lot.
When Bernadette comes to the banker's home to report on how she intends to spend the money, he falls madly in love with her. She appears to return his love, and they fall into an intense affair. The banker's avocation – walking in the Lakes district of England – provides a perfect cover for their weekend trysts. The banker's wife, Angela, is ill. So obsessed is he with Bernadette that he is unable to see how his absences are hurting her. Still less is he concerned that rumors of his affair must surely get back to her.
The differences in their backgrounds are painful to watch. When Bernadette invites her lover to accompany her to the fair, the noise, crowds, games and animals excite her. He is repelled. When he takes her to a pub where her family spends time, he cannot fathom their rough talk, hard drinking and apparent criminality. Yet, because he loves Bernadette, he accepts it all. Being wealthy, he becomes popular as a buyer of drinks all around more often than he strictly needs to.
The tragedy of their love is in their inability to express their true feelings. While even a simple “I love you� is difficult for many people to say, the banker hides his extravagant impressions of Bernadette's beauty, his deep love, and she wonders if he's just using her for sex. He, at the same time, constantly fears she is interested only in his money and an opportunity to escape the poverty of her life.
They break up, they get back together. Then the banker reads Hazlitt's “Liber Amoris,� a book about the essayist's affair with a teenage girl when he is in his 40s. The account of his love moves the banker because it is so close to his own feelings. Then Hazlitt writes of his love's betrayal, and doubt and jealousy overtake the narrator. He is unable to stop himself from interrogating poor Bernadette about how she spends every hour they are apart. He eventually drives her away with his accusations. Yet, even then, they come together long enough for her to tell him she cannot continue the affair while his wife's illness – finally diagnosed as cancer – requires him to care for her and keep her from hurt.
Shortly after his wife's death, the banker tries to see Bernadette again. She has quit her job and left town. Her family refuses to tell him where she has gone. He rents a cottage in a slum. He begins drinking heavily. He spends his time trying to work out how to see her, and he hunts through neighboring towns and cities. When she returns to his town and he sees her again, she tells him she has had an abortion and that she can never see him again. Yet, he continues to try to make amends, hoping her final word is not, in fact final.
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David Gordon, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of A Time to Dance |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- very sensitive (sigh)
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Lover is
- totally uninterested
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- business executive
Age:
- 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- a teen
Profession/status:
- student
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 5 ()
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- descript of kissing
- touching of anatomy
- impregnation/reproduction
- actual description of hetero sex
- descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
- descript. of female anat. (the big V)
Unusual Style:
- written like a journal/diary/letters
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Melvyn Bragg Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Gordon
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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