Let's dance

by Frances Hegarty

Isabel Burley returns to her childhood home to look after her mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. There she finds an angry old woman, prey to the threats of failing memory, the inability to run her own life and the local villains, who are eyeing her isolated house. The real threat, however, comes from within. Isabel thinks she has gone home to do good, but really she is looking for the love she lacked as a child. Isolated by her mother's growing dementia, the two women become locked in a relationship of hatred and simmering violence, with roots that go deep into the past. . .

276 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Frances Hegarty is the real name of Frances Fyfield; a criminal lawyer, an occupation on which she bases many of her novels. She divides her time between London and Deal, and has won several awards, notably the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger.

Reviews

[Hazel McHaffie]

Serena Burley has Alzheimer's. Her daughter, Isabel, leaves her London flat to look after her, but hate and love are closely intertwined and Isabel has much to learn from an ex-criminal and a dead aunt. It's certainly readable and it gives interesting insights into the effects of duty and responsibility in families.