There Should be More Dancing

Margery Blandon was always a principled woman who found guidance from the wisdom of desktop calendars. She lived quietly in Gold Street, Brunswick for 60 years until events drove her to the 43rd floor of the Tropic Hotel. As she waits for the crowds in the atrium far below to disperse, she contemplates what went wrong; her best friend kept an astonishing secret from her and she can't trust the home help. It's possible her firstborn son has betrayed her, that her second son, Morris, might have committed a crime, her only daughter is trying to kill her and her dead sister Cecily helped her to this, her final downfall. Even worse, it seems Margery's life-long neighbour and enemy now demented always knew the truth. There Should be More Dancing is a story of Margery's reckonings on loyalty, grief and love.

Rosalie Ham is the author of the novels The Dressmaker and Summer at Mount Hope. She has also had stories published in Meanjin, The Age, The Bulletin and Invisible Ink.