Dancing Backwards

Sally Vickers

HarperCollins

Otago Daily Times, October 5th 2009

Ginger Rodgers supposedly did everything that Fred Astaire did-backwards and in high heels.  Not an easy feat, but one that the protagonist of Sally Vickers’ latest novel, Dancing Backwards, discovers an unexpected aptitude for. 

Newly widowed and preparing to embark on a 6-day transatlantic cruise, Violet Hetherington is taking a major risk; at its destination she hopes to mend a decades-long estrangement from an old friend and mentor. Despite her apprehensions and natural reserve, however, she begins to relax as she settles into a voyage.

Accustomed to pleasing others, she accepts her attentive stewards’ suggestion that she try ballroom dancing and is pleasantly surprised to find herself a natural.  Buoyed by this accomplishment, Violet begins to dance metaphorically as well as physically backwards, into memory. History is juxtaposed against on-board events, none of which are in themselves of great significance but all of which establish her as a person that others come to respect and depend upon-in sharp contrast to her own self-perception. 

Although the adjective ’bittersweet’ is on overused cliché, it perfectly describes the tone of this novel. Violet regrets the mistakes and lost opportunities of the past but is determined to follow her own desires after years of satisfying the expectations of others.  The combination is satisfyingly optimistic, without the saccharin aftertaste that so often accompanies such ‘uplifting’ fiction. The secondary characters, too, are unexpectedly eclectic and interesting. As well as reveal Violet’s strength, they offer insights into the diverse ways people discover and maintain relationships, even between the most unlikely of partners. 

Light without being lightweight, Dancing Backwards is a graceful novel in high heels.