A crisp, compelling stand-alone novel

 

LISTENERDan Strawn
Dancing with AirWWII Love StoryBy: Uvi PoznanskyNarrated by: Virtual Voice






 A crisp, compelling stand-alone novel Overall      5 out of 5 starsPerformance      4 out of 5 starsStory      5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-28-25

Dancing With Air is book 4 of Uvi Poznznzky's family saga series titled Life With Memories. It is also a crisp, compelling stand-alone novel. 
I've been following Uvi's work for over twenty years and have never been disappointed by her story telling expertise. Dancing With Air is no exception.
As always, or almost always, Uvi narrates this tale with her first-person pizzaz. Over the years, she's mastered this technique in ways that draw readers into her stories as if they were part of them—which after all, is every budding authors' goal and every reader's delight. 
Who but gifted writers like Uvi can get away with writing a prologue which details the beginning of the end of the story, not what happened before the story, and numbers it as page 1 of the story? By the end of the Prologue, I couldn't wait to turn the page to Chapter One on page 11. 
And the Epilogue? Is there one? Of course, and what a magnificent story arc Uvi has created. It starts on page one of the Prologue and ends on the last word of the Epilogue. I like the way the Epilogue's heading—WE'LL BE THERE— poetically links to the Prologue's — HOLDING ON TO HOLDING ON— heading on page one. 
Poetry, by the way, is another of Uvi's myriad attributes, and whether on purpose or by accident, it's a nice touch when you run into a poetic tidbit in the midst of her novels or short stories.
Here are a couple of samples I've gleaned from the text of Dancing With Air:
"I lean over, craving to be hugged—but she doesn't, and the only thing that wraps around me is loneliness."
"Dazed, I sat on my bed, staring mindlessly at the gap between two window curtains. I should have pulled them together, but at that moment I was fascinated by the view, even if it was narrow. The sky was bruised purple."
The story has its beginnings in World War II. Lenny, a Marine in love with Natasha back in the states, is caught up in an espionage scheme which has him writing love letters to another woman, an inspired attempt by the allies at convincing the Germans the invasion of Europe will be launched someplace other than Normandy. This invasion-somewhere-else idea actually worked to fool the Germans, and Uvi made good use of the historical details of the farce in her story.
As with all of Uvi's novels she does her research and makes the fictional part feel real by her placement of accurate events along with time period descriptions of minute details, the color of phone booths in WWII London, for example. 
Like all good novels, Dancing With Air boasts a bevy of interesting side characters who feed the main plot. 
Mrs. Horowitz, Natasha's mother, is at the top of that list. She's a busybody, middle aged mom who doesn't think much of Lenny. 
Ryan is Lenny's friend in London, an enlisted man from Detroit, who loves loving as many English women as he can, and can't understand Lenny's devotion to one woman in New York when crossing the channel to invade France is just around the corner. As it turns out, Ryan's girlfriend back in the states is Lana, the one Lenny is writing to in his secret espionage role.
Captain Smith is Lenny's commanding officer and his connection to the allied secret project.
These and other believable side-players contribute to the overall flow of the story's theme. They live their substories in unique ways that can't help being familiar and entertaining to readers.
It doesn't matter whether you have read Uvi's other writing or you are contemplating your first venture with Dancing With Air, your time will be well spent in reading it.
I give it five stars.
My Audible book of Dancing With Air was gifted to me by the author.