Book Review – Pretending to Dance

by Diane Chamberlain (Pan Macmillan) ISBN: 9781250010742

Diane Chamberlain is a novel writing machine. She is a career writer with a calculated ability to establish, nurture and follow each layer in an intricate plot. Her skilled approach to Pretending to Dance has left me an admirer and desirous to consume more of her work.

Molly and her husband Aidan want more than anything to have children. As tragedy befalls them their only route is adoption, a process that raises frightening ghosts in Molly’s past. Juxtaposing Molly’s present and past, we slowly piece together what happened in her seemingly idyllic childhood in North Carolina during the summer she was 14-years-old.

Chamberlain has crafted an emotive and believable story, told through the viewpoint of the passionate and enriched character of Molly. She has interwoven the story with steady suspense that delivers a great page-turning holiday read.

Justine Cullinan
4/5