The Ballroom

I've not read the debut novel by Anna Hope but had seen The Ballroom, her second novel, was to be included in the Richard & Judy Autumn Book Club and thought that the story sounded fascinating. Always happy to find exciting new authors and stories that are engaging I thought I'd give this one a try.

This is a story that from the reading on the back of the book sounds like it could be quite bleak. It is set in 1911 in a remote asylum on the Yorkshire moors where those who are not of “sound mind” are sent to be treated. Segregated into men and women's quarters they meet only once a week in the grand ballroom of the asylum where they are allowed to dance and socialise.

The book opens initially with the arrival of a new female patient at the asylum, mill girl Ella has been sent there for breaking a window in her room at the mill in order to try and be able to glimpse the sky and breathe fresh air. She is suffering from conjunctivitis as a result of her working conditions and is determined not to be confined in an asylum. Whilst she is railing against her captivity it becomes clear that what Ella has suffered is kin to a panic attack and she is not suffering mental health issues that would see her confined to an establishment like the asylum.

As we meet many of the patients within the novel we begin to realise that whilst there are some genuine cases within the wards there are equal numbers of patients who captivity is not required. One of these is Irishman John who we realise that whilst very quiet and introverted he is certainly not mentally unsound. He has suffered grief in his life but nothing more. He is set to work doing menial work around the asylum including grave digging for those patients who die within the walls.

At one Friday night dance Ella and John meet and a tentative friendship and courtship begins. John feeling upset that the women in the asylum are never allowed outdoors begins writing of the things he sees when he is out working and puts them in letters to Ella. Their love blossoms slowly and it's a lovely story how they have little physical contact with each other but manage to overcome almost impossible odds to keep getting letters to one another.

There are some really interesting relationships and characters in this book. The one I found most fascinating was that of Charles Fuller, a young doctor at the asylum. At the outset of this book we find him to be engaged in the provision of small things that will make the patients of the asylum more comfortable. He plays piano in the day-rooms for an hour each week to help provide musical therapy for patients and he is the organiser of the Friday night dances in the ballroom. We can tell he is of a progressive mind and disagrees with government plans to introduce compulsory sterilisation for those suffering from mental illness among the lower classes. He is keen to write about the work he is doing with music therapy and to use this a way of increasing his standing within the medical community.

What I found intriguing about his character is that potentially of all the characters in the book he himself is the one who suffers the biggest mental breakdown of all. It is clear he has a difficult relationship with his parents, who disagree with his progressive thoughts and tastes. We also become aware through guarded slips from the author that he is struggling with this own sexuality and he finds himself drawn to various male characters within the book in ways he struggles to understand and instead of accepting this is begins to poison his mind and make him ashamed and to question everything he believes. By the end of the book he has suffered a mental break and is almost entirely changed.

I loved this book, I liked that it explored the progress that we have made in understanding mental illness in the last 100 years. The asylum in the book is based on a real place and therefore we are left with no illusions that whilst the characters are fictional the realities of the stories being told are a real reflection of how things were in Great Britain in 1911.

It's a wonderful blend of so many stories, there are some really strong friendships built within the book including that of Ella and Clem, a fellow private patient whose family have placed her there as she is suffering from a habit of self harming and refusal to eat. With Clem's help to read John's letters and to write replies on her behalf Ella begins to find herself recovering well but meanwhile Clem, who lives in a fantasy world of books and romance begins to feel jealous of her friend and when her attentions towards Dr Fuller aren't returned begins to turn on Ella.

It's setting would suggest a beak story and while there are dark moments within the book it's also a story of great hope and romance and of futures yet to be experienced. The ending was really lovely and I am glad to say not cliched in any way. The book opens with a flash forward and I thought I had figured out where the ending was going but instead I was pleasantly surprised that it had a lovely twist that led to the forming of a wonderful new relationship within the closing pages, one that would endure outwith the asylum.