Isadora’s Dance: A Literary Romance, an elegant blend of literary fiction, romance, history, and artistic exploration, weaves together scholarship, travel, dance, and family mystery into a richly layered narrative that celebrates both intellectual curiosity and emotional discovery.

Isadora’s Dance follows Isadora Duncan, a Canadian doctoral student who travels to Oxford to research the life of Lucia Joyce, the talented yet tragic daughter of James Joyce. Immersed in the world of literary history, Isadora finds herself navigating not only the demands of academic research but also the unexpected complexities of love, identity, and self-discovery. What begins as an academic pursuit gradually evolves into a deeply personal journey that challenges her assumptions about art, relationships, and her own future.

As Isadora explores Lucia Joyce’s life through research and expressive dance, the boundaries between history and the present begin to blur. Dance becomes more than a subject of study—it transforms into a powerful means of understanding creativity, vulnerability, and the emotional struggles that shaped Lucia’s remarkable yet difficult life. Through this artistic lens, the novel thoughtfully examines the enduring influence of literature, performance, and personal expression.

The novel’s international setting adds another compelling dimension to the story. From the historic streets of Oxford to the beauty of Italy, each location enriches the narrative while reflecting Isadora’s own emotional and intellectual growth. Along the way, she encounters memorable characters whose relationships challenge, inspire, and complicate her journey, particularly as romance, friendship, and long-hidden family secrets begin to intertwine.

Beyond its engaging romantic storyline, Isadora’s Dance explores enduring themes of love, identity, artistic ambition, family legacy, personal transformation, memory, and the search for belonging. By combining literary history with contemporary fiction, the novel invites readers to reflect on how the past continues to shape the present and how art possesses the remarkable ability to heal, inspire, and transform lives.

Combining graceful prose, emotional depth, and carefully researched historical detail, Isadora’s Dance: A Literary Romance offers readers an immersive literary experience that celebrates the enduring connections between art, scholarship, romance, and self-discovery.

There’s a difference between a book that entertains and one that makes readers want to talk to the person who wrote it. The Age of Privilege feels like the second kind.

What stands out is that the novel isn’t simply a nostalgic look back at the postwar baby boom generation it explores what opportunity truly means when personal ambition, family, and societal change intersect. Dawn Wright’s journey reflects the aspirations of a generation that found new freedoms in education, independence, and possibility, while her relationship with Paul Lewis provides an emotional foundation that balances love with the desire to create something meaningful beyond herself. It’s a story that invites readers to reflect on how the choices we make during periods of social change shape not only our own lives but the generations that follow. Those themes give the novel a depth that extends well beyond its historical setting.

www.thestar.com/life/travel/this-reader-went-on-a-hiking-trip-at-a-womens-retreat-in-quebec/article_720e4447-c7e6-4fed-95ee-fec827007b54.html

Upcoming novel will be published in October, 2021 from Blue Denim Press. Isadora’s story is set in the spring and summer of 2010. She is a young woman who learns to follow her muse and finds love and romance while travelling abroad.

This painting now hangs above the fireplace in my condo. My late husband and I purchased it at auction held by my former neighbours in support of cancer research for their late son.

My late husband purchased this painting at auction. It reminded him of trips to Algonquin Park. It now hangs in my bedroom on a wall that seems custom painted for its display.

This year’s 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics went to the researchers of auction theory. Who would have guessed such a theory existed? That got me thinking about acquiring art through auction. This personal practice is an act of giving. The successful bidder gives the total amount to the charity holding the auction. This personal practice is entirely different from donating art in exchange for a tax receipt. I have given art to places like museums in exchange for a tax receipt. I have also donated art purchased at a charity auction to another auction for fundraising. This is all part of downsizing. What I kept fits well into my new life.

Missing or cancelled, themes for our times in a pandemic

All festivals cancelled during the pandemic summer I move to a condo in Cobourg. I’m fine with that. It’s quiet, which I like. The beach, too is closed, which is necessary. We want to limit out-of-town visitors. We want to reduce contact with strangers. We want to limit harm. Yet I miss these dynamic venues which offer contact with like-minded people. Like me, Tom is a member of the Spirit of the Hills. He knew my late husband. They talked about gardening at Baltimore Nurseries. During the 2019 festival my friend from Britain came on her way to dance camp at Trent University. She loved the busy beach. It reminded her of where she lives in the south of England. When the beach closed I missed walking along the shore on the sand. Now I can, but only during the week. Today I walked on the beach with Irene. We met Antony and Ana, another SOH member and a poet. We became friends in Cuba where we attended the CCLA workshop in February. When will we travel again? Then we saw two Killdeer chicks scurrying along the wet sand, running away from us and the waves. They get to fly south. I’m envious.

Pandemic summer has been the year of fresh air. Luckily I’m living where the air is fresh: lake breezes, winds from the west, easterly gusts. Barefoot dances on the grass or Zoom classes? Of course I prefer being with real people on the dewy grass, but I miss the company of distant friends. All workshops cancelled, so we have to improvise. We’re good at that! We zoom and exercise together in the comfort of our own houses. We come from England, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland, and across Canada. We chat and wave. We laugh and cry. We are patient with wavy sound and compromised music. We stretch and step. We twirl and reach. We look forward to meeting up again. It will be virtual.