An Invitation to Dance

by Marion Urch

This compelling, dramatic work of historical fiction recounts the astonishing life of Lola Montez, a daring young Irish woman who took on the role in life of a Spanish dancer. Set against the turbulent beginnings of the nineteenth century, this book is an epic novel that sweeps from the margins of Empire - Ireland and India - to its very heart, within the upper echelons of society in London and Europe. In beautifully written almost hypnotic prose she ushers us backstage and behind the headlines, to a cruel and sensual world of high stakes and shattered dreams.

Genres: Historical Fiction

314 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2009

About the author

Marion Urch is an award winning video artist and novelist, with an MA from the Royal College of Art in London. Both her novels Violent Shadows and An Invitation to Dance were published to critical acclaim: the latter has been translated into Russian and German. She has also published a number of short stories and has credits for radio and television

"My childhood was a flicker book of people and places: a children’s home run by nuns, the grounds of a Victorian military hospital, a merchant house outside the ancient city of Mdina in Malta, a brand new housing estate in York. In between times, the family spent long summers in rural Leitrim, in the North West of Ireland. Moving around a lot, I caught glimpses of other lives, other identities, other versions of myself I might have been. "

Reviews

[Tara Chevrestt]

This has been an excellent read. I highly recommend it for fans of historical fiction based on or about strong women in history. This novel follows the life of Lola Montez, legendary dancer and woman of scandal.

Born Eliza Gilbert to an Irish mother and an English Navy officer, the future Lola Montez travels at a young age to British occupied India, to a strict Puritan household in Scotland, and to a girl's boarding school in England. Basically, Eliza lives everywhere but with her mother, who seems to hate her with a passion. Upon finishing school and being faced with marriage to an old widower, Eliza does what many a young courageous girl in her situation would do, she runs off with a man of her choice. As luck would have it tho, it just happens to be a man her mother also seems to have her sights set on despite her already married status. Thus, the marriage is doomed from the get go. What follows is scandalous love affairs and divorce. Eliza finds herself ostracized from "polite" society and as her "love" affairs always turn out to be "lust" affairs in the end, she finds herself with no means of support. She has two choices: become a governess or a woman of ill repute. Eliza does neither. She becomes a dancer and after a trip to Spain, puts Eliza Gilbert/Eliza James in the past and brings to life Lola Montez.

Lola Montez could not be more different from Eliza Gilbert James. Lola Montez does not sit and sew, but sweeps across the stage clicking her castanets and throwing her slippers. Lola Montez carries a small pistol, a dagger, and a gentleman's rawhide horsewhip which she dares to use on an officer's face in Poland, branding herself a heroine of the Polish revolution. Eliza Gilbert James lived to please others, Lola Montez lives only to please herself and even has the gall to spurn the amorous advances of a prince. Men cheated on Eliza, but die in duels for Lola.

However, it seems the passionate, sensual, and vibrant Lola can not find nor hold onto true love... Can her travels to America or even Australia change her luck?

A TERRIFIC read. This was a book well worth my purchase and staying on my shelf.

[Brian]

An Invitation To Dance is a fictionalised account of the life of Eliza Gilbert, an Irish woman of humble origins who re-invented herself as the Spanish dancer Lola Montez at the beginning of the nineteenth century and took much of Europe by storm. In a turbulent and scandalous life she counted among her lovers the composer Franz Liszt and the elderly King Ludwig of Bavaria.

A flawed and complex heroine, Marion Urch’s Lola is a proto-feminist struggling to carve out an independent existence in a patriarchal, class-bound society, a society, nevertheless, that is beginning to unravel in the face of inarticulate but powerful social forces. Lola’s solution to is to create for herself a bewildering patchwork of identities and it is this sometimes glittering, sometimes shabby fabric that the author delicately unpicks in beautifully textured and evocative prose.

[Lydia]

4,5*
What an excellent read! Bought on a whim two years ago because of the title and cover, finally read it and it is such a little gem. Fictionalized life story of Lola Montez - presented here as a complicated, determined and passionate woman. The book takes you across the globe with Lola. I couldn't put it down and I hadn't even heard of her before buying this book.

[Xerxessia]

Die Geschichte von Lola Montez, allerdings als Roman verarbeitet - mit den entsprechenden Freiheiten der Autorin: Auslassungen und Hinzufügungen. Das Buch hat mich inspiriert, mich etwas mehr mit dieser historischen Frau zu beschäftigen, die sehr mutig aus dem damals für Damen vorgesehenen Rahmen ausbricht. Da haben wir nach 200 Jahren nun doch einiges für Frauen erreicht - auch wenn es immer noch nicht ganz ausreicht...

[Jo]

A fictional account of the life of Eliza Gilbert aka Lola Montez, the famous courtesan who brought down a monarchy. The first part of the book was told in first person and Lola came across as a little naïve but then it suddenly switched to third person narrative and she was the brat that history paints her to be. It was eminently readable, just confusing.

[Lwelly]

preferred her earlier life...started to lose interest after she left India!