This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Well, the glitter and glam of Strictly Come Dancing is back on our screens and dance fever is about to hit. If you cannot get enough of the foxtrot, salsa or tango, or maybe admire Darcy Bussell's amazing ballet career, then here is our ten picks of novels with dancing.
1. Last Dance with Valentino by Daisy Waugh – Loosely based on real events, Jenny Doyle travels to New York to work for the de Saulles family where she strikes a friendship with Rodolfo, a dance teacher. Then one day it all changes. Ten years later Rodolfo is now silver screen heartthrob, Rudolph Valentino. Will he and Jenny meet again?
2. Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman – With a beautifully haunting cover, this is the story of two women separated by decades. Beattie Blaxland who had big dreams, then found herself pregnant to her married lover at the tender age of eighteen. And Emma Blaxland-Hunter, a prima ballerina, living the dream. Until she lost it all. Both women learn from Wildflower Hill.
3. Prima Donna by Karen Swann – Out in November this novel is about prima ballerina, Pia Soto, a rebellious, glamorous bad girl. Her assistant, Sophie O’Farrell, is a bit hapless, a bit gawky, always choosing the wrong man and setting her own dreams aside. Then Pia has a devastating accident. And Sophie has to step out the shadows.
4. The Ballroom Class by Lucy Dillon – Three couples, one ballroom class, all looking for that bit of magic. A couple getting married, the bride's parents and a couple whose marriage is failing…
5. Living La Vida Loca by Belinda Jones – Carmen and Beth need a change. And they have a fantastic opportunity in the form of a reality show where they dance through different countries.
6. The Return by Victoria Hislop – Sonia, looking for more from life, joins a salsa class in London. Her friend, Maggie, books them a holiday in Granada, Spain – a chance for them to dance. Whilst there Sonia meets an old waiter and is soon drawn into the story of the Ramirez family during the Spanish civil war.
7. Strictly Love by Julia Williams – Isabella's dance classes give four people the chance to forget their lives and re-invent themselves.
8. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild – A book from my childhood. Three adopted sisters, Pauline, Petrova and Posy – the Fossil sisters, brought together by Great Uncle Matthew and brought up by Nana and Aunt Sylvia. Struggling for money, Sylvia takes in borders, one of whom is a dance teacher and their lives are changed forever.
9. Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay – Nina Revskaya was one of the Soviet Union's greatest ballerinas, until her defection in 1953. Now in a wheelchair she receives a letter from a professor of Russian literature who believes he is connected with Nina.
10. The Ballroom on Magnolia Street by Sharon Owens – Not strictly a dancing novel, but it mentions ballroom so I had to include it. Johnny was in love with Marion. He knew he would always love her. But he neglected to ask her to marry him when she became pregnant. Terrified of the scandal she marries someone else, so Johnny consoles himself with the ballroom on Magnolia Street, and dreams of Marion coming back to him.