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Dancing in the Kitchen
Dancing in the Kitchen explores the unraveling of secrets in a New England family after the unexpected death of the father. The story is set in the fall of 1989 in a mill town in Maine, a New Hampshire village, and the Midlands of England. It is narrated alternately by the grown children—Annie, a minister's wife who has fallen into a troubled affair with her husband's best friend, and Rob, a labor historian who resists his sister's interpretations of their shared past even as his own relationships become complicated by emotional legacies and a mysterious stranger.
Returning to her childhood home in Three Rivers, Maine, two months after her father’s death, Annie struggles to understand the past, certain that in its mysteries lie the answers to her present dilemma. An artist and the mother of a four-year-old daughter, she finds herself caught between a faltering marriage and an affair that has rekindled her long dormant passion for painting.
The central dilemma for all the characters is whether they will follow their passions and actively seek out joy in their lives, or stay in honorable but at some level loveless relationships. Grief impels them into risky territory, and their choices are complicated. There is inevitably an emotional price to pay, as Annie has always known and Rob belatedly realizes.
Returning to her childhood home in Three Rivers, Maine, two months after her father’s death, Annie struggles to understand the past, certain that in its mysteries lie the answers to her present dilemma. An artist and the mother of a four-year-old daughter, she finds herself caught between a faltering marriage and an affair that has rekindled her long dormant passion for painting.
The central dilemma for all the characters is whether they will follow their passions and actively seek out joy in their lives, or stay in honorable but at some level loveless relationships. Grief impels them into risky territory, and their choices are complicated. There is inevitably an emotional price to pay, as Annie has always known and Rob belatedly realizes.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2012
3 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Susan Sterling
1 bookSusan Sterling is the author of Dancing in the Kitchen a novel about the unraveling of secrets in a New England family (Publerati, May 2012).
Sterling’s stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Best American Sports Writing, Down East, and various journals and anthologies including A Healing Touch: True Stories of Life, Death and Hospice, edited by novelist Richard Russo (Down East Books, 2008). Her essay “Radiation Blooms” received the 2005 Literary Nonfiction Prize from Crab Orchard Review and was listed as a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2007. She holds degrees from Wellesley College, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and has taught at Berkeley and at Colby College.
She lives in Waterville, Maine with her husband and their shelter dog and continues to explore issues that engage her—friendship, families, grief, and unruly dogs—in her writing.
Sterling’s stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Best American Sports Writing, Down East, and various journals and anthologies including A Healing Touch: True Stories of Life, Death and Hospice, edited by novelist Richard Russo (Down East Books, 2008). Her essay “Radiation Blooms” received the 2005 Literary Nonfiction Prize from Crab Orchard Review and was listed as a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2007. She holds degrees from Wellesley College, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and has taught at Berkeley and at Colby College.
She lives in Waterville, Maine with her husband and their shelter dog and continues to explore issues that engage her—friendship, families, grief, and unruly dogs—in her writing.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 20, 2012
Let me just say that for $2.99 this book is a definite bargain. I chose it because I love the subject matter. I love reading about real people who are struggling to make their lives work, making mistakes along the way, and maybe figuring it all out - as much as possible, anyway.
Though it started out a bit slow, and took a while for me to get into the story and connect with the characters, get into it and connect I did. Maybe I was able to connect so well with Annie because I'm around her age. Like Annie, I too have a young daughter, and I too am married to a man much more dedicated to his community and amazing than I am. I could easily put myself in her shoes, and could easily sympathize with her struggles, both personally and creatively.
But I was also able to connect well with Rob. He struggles in much the same way as Annie, yet it's different, maybe because he's male, or maybe because he's not married. Either way Susan Sterling painted such real, vivid characters, ones that continue to haunt me a few days after finishing the novel, and I imagine will continue to do so for a while.
On top of fantastic, full characters, she writes with such a wonderful simplicity, yet her words are almost poetic in the flow and description. I thought, being so long, the novel would be heavy and slow, but that wasn't the case at all. It's almost as though she was able to pack a long, heavy book into a more flowing, easy-to-read format. The parallel stories happening in New England and England, though separated by an ocean, are so similar, yet so unique. And the aspect of family woven in throughout is fascinating. It really made me look at my own life in another light.
Two main themes running throughout the book are in fact poetry and art. I'd say that's how Susan Sterling wrote this novel - infused with not only actual poetry and art but her words and style are infused with it too.
For $2.99, this book is well worth the money. If you like vivid characters, descriptive, haunting settings, and stories that resonate with you long after you read them, then this is a book for you.
Though it started out a bit slow, and took a while for me to get into the story and connect with the characters, get into it and connect I did. Maybe I was able to connect so well with Annie because I'm around her age. Like Annie, I too have a young daughter, and I too am married to a man much more dedicated to his community and amazing than I am. I could easily put myself in her shoes, and could easily sympathize with her struggles, both personally and creatively.
But I was also able to connect well with Rob. He struggles in much the same way as Annie, yet it's different, maybe because he's male, or maybe because he's not married. Either way Susan Sterling painted such real, vivid characters, ones that continue to haunt me a few days after finishing the novel, and I imagine will continue to do so for a while.
On top of fantastic, full characters, she writes with such a wonderful simplicity, yet her words are almost poetic in the flow and description. I thought, being so long, the novel would be heavy and slow, but that wasn't the case at all. It's almost as though she was able to pack a long, heavy book into a more flowing, easy-to-read format. The parallel stories happening in New England and England, though separated by an ocean, are so similar, yet so unique. And the aspect of family woven in throughout is fascinating. It really made me look at my own life in another light.
Two main themes running throughout the book are in fact poetry and art. I'd say that's how Susan Sterling wrote this novel - infused with not only actual poetry and art but her words and style are infused with it too.
For $2.99, this book is well worth the money. If you like vivid characters, descriptive, haunting settings, and stories that resonate with you long after you read them, then this is a book for you.
October 31, 2012
This novel is deceptively complex, as it pulls the reader through several stories that intertwine in odd and unique ways. We meet a young married woman (Annie) who is having an affair because her marriage isn’t fulfilling, and her older brother (Rob) who is struggling to figure out how he feels about his long-time girlfriend. The father of these two siblings has recently died, and his death causes both of his adult children to take a closer look at themselves and their parents’ strange marriage. Unsurprisingly, the reader quickly learns that their father was involved with another woman, which explains their mother’s callous attitude toward all things concerning him, including his ashes.
But that’s where the predictability ends. Both Annie and Rob are well-developed characters, and we follow them—often wishing we could stop them and provide some advice—into various situations that ultimately determine the future paths of their lives. Dancing in the Kitchen is far from a modern romance, but it’s a well-written story, and it feels extremely real.
But that’s where the predictability ends. Both Annie and Rob are well-developed characters, and we follow them—often wishing we could stop them and provide some advice—into various situations that ultimately determine the future paths of their lives. Dancing in the Kitchen is far from a modern romance, but it’s a well-written story, and it feels extremely real.
March 24, 2013
Ms. Sterling transforms a familiar theme - young wife & mother falling out of love with her husband - into a fresh & compelling narrative. With a deft hand, she traces the intolerable conflict building within her anti-heroine, Annie. The tale is all the more gripping because Annie's husband, Brian, is a perfectly decent, indeed admirable man - as is her new love, Tom. Sterling weaves their shifting passions & surroundings into a beautifully written page-turner, staying true to the lives she has created right through the unforgettable climax.
September 3, 2012
Loved it! The descriptions are sublime. I could visualize every setting--the antiques store, the old English house, and so on. I was drawn in immediately and hated to put it down. Looking forward to the next one!
October 14, 2022
A family legacy of secrets and infidelity comes into focus as two siblings, Annie and Rob, grapple with their own unsatisfying relationships after their father’s death. Susan Sterling creates complex, fully believable characters, rich with psychological acuity and beautiful observations. A wonderful sense of place (New England and England) and terrific, measured pacing create a fully realized world. A delightful, compelling novel — I’ll remember these characters.
May 27, 2013
It was an enjoyable read, well-written, drawing interesting comparisons between life in Maine (US) and in Stoke On Trent (UK) but the characters didn't really get under my skin. They each had opposing views of their childhoods, and how they fit into their family, and their parents' marriage. The sister stays in America, the brother goes to the UK. Owing to the father's unavowed infidelity, both are ultimately unfaithful to their partners: a inevitable sense of history repeating itself, although ROb and Annie leave their partners, rather than choosing to remain. When Annie leaves her husband for her lover, she is able to continue painting (unlike her father who remained permenantly attached to rocks -I'm sure there's a parellel between a rock's static immuability and the fluid painting of an artist.
I don't think the mother's personality was particulary well-fleshed out, nor was she particularly likeable- we learnt more about the dead father than her. It was difficult to understand what motivated her to stay in a loveless mariage.
It was indeed a book about secrets, and things left unsaid. Intriguing, but not very uplifting.
I don't think the mother's personality was particulary well-fleshed out, nor was she particularly likeable- we learnt more about the dead father than her. It was difficult to understand what motivated her to stay in a loveless mariage.
It was indeed a book about secrets, and things left unsaid. Intriguing, but not very uplifting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2015
4 STARS
(I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review).
After Rob and Annie's father died their mother is trying to cope with being alone. Rob stays with his mother for a bit and then returns to England where he is researching his book. His live-in girlfriend, Jess is trying to find a job as a dancer but is not making great headway. Rob meets a stranger and starts to wonder if his life as it is is what he wants in the end.
Annie thinks her mother is not grieving as much as she should be, and then finds out her father may not have loved her mother as much as he should have. She discovers secrets from the past that are haunting her future. Her husband is rarely home so she looks to their mutual friend for comfort. Soon she is whirling in secrets, passion and love.
This is not a novel about a family but secrets of a family. These three characters have a completely different lives apart from one another and do not look to each other for any answers. This novel had be start to finish even when I was shaking my head at their decisions. Set in the Eastern part of the States the novel reminds me of Shreve, Irving and Russo.
(I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review).
After Rob and Annie's father died their mother is trying to cope with being alone. Rob stays with his mother for a bit and then returns to England where he is researching his book. His live-in girlfriend, Jess is trying to find a job as a dancer but is not making great headway. Rob meets a stranger and starts to wonder if his life as it is is what he wants in the end.
Annie thinks her mother is not grieving as much as she should be, and then finds out her father may not have loved her mother as much as he should have. She discovers secrets from the past that are haunting her future. Her husband is rarely home so she looks to their mutual friend for comfort. Soon she is whirling in secrets, passion and love.
This is not a novel about a family but secrets of a family. These three characters have a completely different lives apart from one another and do not look to each other for any answers. This novel had be start to finish even when I was shaking my head at their decisions. Set in the Eastern part of the States the novel reminds me of Shreve, Irving and Russo.
June 2, 2013
The story unfolds in a small town in Maine after the sudden death of the father of a New England family. Annie, a minister's wife, and Rob, a labor historian, encounter secrets that reveal how little they knew their seemingly predictable parent. The novel is surprisingly well written, considering it was a free download. Historically, I haven't had much success with these. The reason I didn't give it a five-star rating is that I felt the ending was weak, which is unfortunate considering how well-developed the characters were and how the plot twists kept me turning the page. While the ending landed softly, I will look for books by this author in the future. I believe this was her first novel, and she certainly shows promise.
May 26, 2013
Annie is having an affair with Tom and struggling in her failing marriage to Brian, all while her brother Rob needs to decide on a long term relationship with Jessica. Brought home by their father's death, the story follows their parallel stories in New England and England and their about their mother who totally disregards their father's ashes. This story shows the emotional side of infidelity and the cost secrets have on relationships.
Started slow and picked up pace near the end.
Started slow and picked up pace near the end.
March 17, 2015
A finely, evenly delicately wrought portrait of a mother of a young child. The mother strays into the arms of an antiques dealer. The novel sympathetically portrays the wife/adulterer's relationship to her husband, her ancient mother, the antque dealer. It conveys that two-minded quality of the life and interior life of a person who exists on two planes, one forged in deceit.
August 20, 2012
First novel for a friend of a friend which was fun because I could hear her "voice" in my head as I read it.
July 23, 2016
A richly layered story of grief, loss & longing that brings to mind Agee’s A Death in the Family. Brilliantly and beautifully written, but not easy to read for all its sadness.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews