Looking for the Possible Dance

Mary Margaret Hamilton was educated in Scotland. She was born there too. These may not have been the best possible options, but they were the only ones on offer at the time. Although her father did his best, her knowledge of life is perhaps a little incomplete. Margaret knows the best way to look at the moon, how to wake on time and how to breathe fire. Now she must learn how to live. A. L. Kennedy’s absorbing, moving and gently political first novel dissects the intricate difficulties of human relationships, from Margaret’s passionate attachment to her father and her more problematic involvement with Colin, her lover, to the wider social relations between pupil and teacher, employer and employee, individual and state.

Reviews of Looking for the Possible Dance

"'This beautiful novel is the story of Margaret and the two men in her life: her father, who brought her up, and Colin, her lover…A tender, moving story, punctuated by flashes of comedy and one climactic moment of appalling violence' Literary Review" "'A writer rich in the humanity and warmth that seems at a premium in these bleak times' Salman Rushdie" "'An austere and intense talent… A. L. Kennedy turns pointlessness into significance' Sunday Telegraph" "'A novel of undeniable warmth and charm' Jonathan Coe, Guardian" "'An immensely powerful writer is at work' Daily Telegraph"