the dancing master by JULIE KLASSEN(BETHANY HOUSE)

In Beaworthy, England there are many secrets. These secrets have left people in the community bitter, sad and lost in the past. The characters live there lives like students in a dancing master's class. There is one difference. The dancing students have become frozen mannequins. They're is no way to relax under such pressure. The students are stiff and withdrawn, afraid to speak or touch one another. The villagers so unhappy I think of them as volcanoes growing and growing wanting to rain a wide, hot trail of ash down to the town. Perhaps, this is why Joe and Felix Wilcox are so cruel. These brothers are definitely frightening bullies. For no reason they pick a fight with Alec Valcourt more than once. One time kicking him in the ribs so hard he can not stand up without help. I think brutality became their only outlet in a village where no one talks about what is really on their minds.

Lady Amelia Midwinter, Julia Midwinter's mother, allows no one in Beaworthy to dance. Not allowing dance is her way, whether she knows it or not, of protecting her mind from remembering a painful past which involved her sister, Lady Anne, her brother, Graham, her father, a friend named Desmond, and another friend named Tremelling. All of these people are really in a symbolic dance. It's a dance of secrets, guilt and lies. This is a dangerous dance because this waltz will lead to a duel and a death.

No wonder the author chose the name Midwinter. The middle of winter is so naked of color, icy cold and dreary grey. The days are rare when there is sunshine. These are the days of the lives for the villagers day in and day out. It is also midwinter because Lady Anne long dead is not fully gone. She speaks in a ghostly way from her grave. She wants to see old wrongs made right. Lady Anne is the death angel hovering over the town. She will not rest until all is opened up and repaired. 

Julia Midwinter, the most outgoing person in the village is the main person who will feel all the pain of the concealed truths. For twenty years Lady Amelia has carried a heavy load of memories and regrets which involve the life of Lady Anne. One day while in the attic with her friend, Patience, Julia will  find some truths in a hidden drawer of a trunk. There are a few letters passed around  throughout the novel that will help explain motivations, unstain reputations and give Julia the chance to become unbound from the chains of misinformation. Although none of what has happened is her fault, she is the one who suffers the most hunger and emotional illness because no one in this dance is in his rightful place. Therefore, Julia is stalled from experiencing loving relationships. She will become very happy to learn about love and grace, the very name of the fountain in the square.

I could not help but think about the way so many lives had been torn asunder by secrets. Even the Valcourts have a heavy secret they carry from London to Beaworthy. There secret is nothing to do with Beaworthy. Their secret happens in London and involves their father and husband. Alec's career is torn apart because of his father. Aurora and her mother are left worried and unhappy. Julie Klassen seems to give the message that it does not matter where you come from, big town, little village, secrets can grow as quickly as the cells of the human body. Secrets also destroy whatever or whomever is around them. Neither does class or station of life protect people from the harm of secrets.

I am glad Julia is left a mermaid necklace by a relative. I thought about this mermaid. I am still thinking about the mermaid. I can only think that with God's help we can survive in deep waters, like a mermaid, if we remember He is our Father-God. We are His children. When Julia learns this truth, she is so happy and relieved of deep discomfort. Julia has never known a real father in her life. If only she had known about Our Father.  However, it is never too late to learn about a loyal and perfect Loving Father. When Julia does learn, along with Lady Amelia, about so great a love, both women become like mermaids who can swim effortlessly and gracefully through the waters of other trials and tribulations that might come their way.

I love the way Julie Klassen ends the dancing master. It is May Day. It is a happy and a historical day in Beaworthy. The villagers decide to have a May Day Dance. The feeling of wanting to dance overrides their insecurities.

Lady Amelia turns the town on its tippy toes when she arrives at the May Day dance and tells all to continue dancing. She has released unforgiveness from her heart. She too is as free as the lady of the fountain in the square. All her chains have fallen away. It's only right the novel should end in this way. "This year...a new dance Alec has composed. It is called Upon a Spring Day--a dance of new life...Turn. Bow. Reach high. Clap. Honor your neighbor. Join hands with your partner and walk forward, hand in hand." I think the best part for the villagers must have been the "walking forward." By the way this is Christian fiction. I also would like to mention the quote at the beginning of each chapter. I looked forward to reading those quotes and thinking about their meaning in the dance of life.
julieklassen