We came to dance.

Making moves from a passion play.
The ties that bind us just slip away.
We came to dance.
The piper calls out a different rhyme.
He cracks the whip and we step in time.

Standing as the parade goes passing by.
I hear a voice around me cry.
Like the sound of distant drums.
Rejected and alone.
A heart without a home.
And someone said...

We came to dance.

Waiting as the panic grips my hand.
Hearing prose from high command.
Like a million times before.
No dignity or grace.
It's the prize and not the race.
And someone said...

We came to dance.

We came to dance.
Making moves from a passion play.
The ties that bind us just slip away.

"Take what you can" they said.
Take it while you may.
But keep in mind the penalty fits the crime.
And it deals no softened blow.
By Ultravox


As soon as I started reading this book that song came to mind, a new romantics tune for old romantics ballroom was somehow appropriate for this beautiful story of human resilience, when you have been disposed of all your humanity.

There are moments of extreme beauty in this book, and some of deep sadness. The only character that did not work for me was the doctor a creation of his period but the least sympathetic of characters in the story.

This is a historical novel with memories of a time when Europe was playing with the dangerous ideas of eugenics and race as if they were demonstrable truth. Another example how society can delude itself of truth by imposing belief above empirical evidence, especially when it concerns the poor or the weakest in our midst.

A beautiful book with a heart as big as a ballroom.

7 people found this helpful

Now this is really good!

If you could sum up The Ballroom in three words, what would they be?

Compelling, insightful, memorable

What did you like best about this story?

It is very atmospheric with strong characterisation. As I understand it, the maxim for writing a good story is.... 'show, rather than tell'. This did just that. Many years ago I had a work meeting at the place on which this is loosely based and I could visualise it so clearly. The ending is also robust and fitting. The day after I finished listening to this, I bought the book to give to a friend as a gift... it's that good.

Have you listened to any of Daniel Weyman’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No, this was the first, but I was very impressed. Great job, Daniel. Thank you.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I think something similar has been written elsewhere about it being the British version of One flew over the cuckoo's nest.

Any additional comments?

Do read...

5 people found this helpful

brilliant summer read

Where does The Ballroom rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I enjoyed the book and found I could not put it down.
I especially enjoyed the authors explanation at the end of where she got the idea.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Ballroom?

I could not pick one thing.....I enjoyed all the characters

4 people found this helpful

Beautifully read

I absolutely loved this book. An unusual love story set in an asylum back in 1911. The reader, Daniel Weyman, bought the characters to life and at points I was almost holding my breathe to listen.

3 people found this helpful

insight to Eugenics

Enjoyed the history behind the story and engaged with all characters even shouting out loud at some of the things the Dr did ! Well read too

3 people found this helpful

excellent book.

I really enjoyed listening to The Ballroom. very emotional at times and engaging throughout. it does leave the reader to ponder on the ending for th3 characters.

3 people found this helpful

Moving and wonderful

This is my first read by this author and I chose it as on Richard and Judy bookclub list. This was set during the heatwave of 1911 on the vast Yorkshire moor in a mental health asylum. Individuals were admitted with no recourse to leave and for minor indiscretions not related to their mental health.
The main characters are John a gentle man from Ireland with a past including death and abandonment. Ella in her desperation to see the sky from her factory workplace broke a window. Her punishment was admission to the asylum. Chem, an intellectual well read girl was admitted by her family as a private patient. Charles Fuller was the doctor working there. He played music in the ballroom for the patients.
This is a beautifully hauntingly story wonderfully scripted set against the backdrop of the rugged Yorkshire moors juxtaposed with the bleakness of the asylum.
The ballroom of the asylum was a lovely space where weekly dances were held with Dr Fuller providing the music. Dr Fuller insisted that John attended John met Ella and love happened between them. Apart from in the ballroom women and men never met as women stayed inside and men outside working.
To maintain contact John writes to Ella. Chem reads the letters and replies back as Ella is illiterate.
In the asylum we see the medical staff are totally powerful and make life and death choices for the inmates without consulting them.
Part of these decisions included horrendous ethical choices leaving life long effects to the receiver. It is even worse to know that this asylum existed and that the eugenic campaign of the time was all too real.
This book is about life and survival but at a huge cost. I was so moved by the beautiful ending which was poetic and so gripping.
The waste to these peoples lives as well as the joy their time together brought is ever present.
The narrative was lovely and aided the story and my listening to it.
I read this in its entirety over a long plane journey and it was such a joy to get absorbed in. I would highly recommend it.

2 people found this helpful

And here is the proof

I have always held the opinion that the second world war would never have happened if Hitler had been less ambitious and the estermination of the Jews would have gone on unabated and even conconed by some parts of the free world. This book is the proof since it is set in 1911 just at the point when parliament was considering the feeble-minded act and wondering whether compulsory sterilization might halt the spread of the contagion of being feeble-minded thus creating in their minds at least a superior race. This had the support apparently of home secretary Churchill who was also responsible for the bombing of Coventry or at least letting it happen but that's another story entirely.

The book is essentially a tragic love story set against the backdrop of a lunatic asylum and against all odds. It starts in a ballroom and ends with the escape of John and the release of Ella. It's corny and full of steriotypes and in some places it's predictable. 'Said' is repeated too often but that's become the norm and it's not the worst example I've ever come across. I think though it is very unlilely that the illigitimate daughter of an insane mill worker in the early twentieth century would have received the kind of education that would have turned ehr in to a teacher therefore I cannot give it five stars.

2 people found this helpful

Brilliant book

I loved the story, it took you through so many emotions and now I have finished it I am really missing the characters

2 people found this helpful

Great Listen

Perfect if you like period dramas. Best story I’ve heard since The Essex Serpent. There are plot twists, romantic moments, sad moment, happy moments & I definitely ugly cried at one point. Learnt a lot about Winston Churchill too!