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A Time to Dance
A lifetime of restraint and placid affection erupts when a retired bank manager falls for a young girl, as far removed from him in background and experience as in age. Set in Cumbria, this is an intensely moving evocation of an overwhelming passion and its destructive kernel of jealousy.
208 pages, Paperback
First published March 21, 1990
8 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Melvyn Bragg
135 books141 followersMelvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, FRSL, FRTS (born 6 October 1939) is an English author, broadcaster and media personality who, aside from his many literary endeavours, is perhaps most recognised for his work on The South Bank Show.
Bragg is a prolific novelist and writer of non-fiction, and has written a number of television and film screenplays. Some of his early television work was in collaboration with Ken Russell, for whom he wrote the biographical dramas The Debussy Film (1965) and Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), as well as Russell's film about Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers (1970). He is president of the National Academy of Writing. His 2008 novel, Remember Me is a largely autobiographical story.
He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, a charity set up to provide funding support to the British Library.
Bragg is a prolific novelist and writer of non-fiction, and has written a number of television and film screenplays. Some of his early television work was in collaboration with Ken Russell, for whom he wrote the biographical dramas The Debussy Film (1965) and Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), as well as Russell's film about Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers (1970). He is president of the National Academy of Writing. His 2008 novel, Remember Me is a largely autobiographical story.
He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, a charity set up to provide funding support to the British Library.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
March 15, 2011
I usually give my books to charity after reading them, but there are a few that I enjoyed so much that I think I may read them again some day and this is one of them. I'd never read MB before, and I can't remember how I came across ATTD, but I'm glad I did. The plot sounds quite sordid - a retired bank manager with a sickly wife lusts after a teenage girl from the wrong side of the tracks. However, in MB's hands it becomes a wonderful tale of love and obsession and how it can affect those caught up in it. Excellent stuff.
April 14, 2015
I was lucky enough to get this book secondhand for the price of a donation and I intended to pass it on to a charity shop, but I enjoyed it enough that I want to read it again and to share it, so I shall hold onto it for a while. On second reading I plan to note some phrases and passages which have especially impressed me. It caught my eye because a friend had recently heard Melvyn Bragg speak and because I was counting on the fact someone who has reviewed the work of so many other artists would not put out something of his own unless it was worth reading. He could have been deluded of course, but I don't think so.
In short, it is a tale of the obsession of a 54 year old man with a girl of 18. I began with some reservations, thinking that it could be uncomfortable reading, a bit tacky. I was just a short while into the book before I concluded that although the age difference was not irrelevant, the obsession would have worked either with an older woman and a boy or indeed with lovers of a similar age. It was a story of equals, equal but different. It is packed full of affection as well as obsession and extreme sexual tension, beautifully crafted, awash with love. It is narrated completely in the form of letters, mostly from the man but enough from young Bernadette that we understand her feelings.
The writing of letters is to make clear to one another the feelings of the two protagonists, and realistically this works to the extent that they can understand aspects of one another's perspective that they might otherwise have missed. They can offload without interruption. Of course, writing has its limitations, and without the benefit being able to gauge immediately the other person's reaction to different parts of the letters, the writer can go off at a tangent without addressing misunderstandings and insecurities.
There are no spoilers here. All of this you will have judged at a very early stage. I'll be reading more from Melvyn Bragg.
In short, it is a tale of the obsession of a 54 year old man with a girl of 18. I began with some reservations, thinking that it could be uncomfortable reading, a bit tacky. I was just a short while into the book before I concluded that although the age difference was not irrelevant, the obsession would have worked either with an older woman and a boy or indeed with lovers of a similar age. It was a story of equals, equal but different. It is packed full of affection as well as obsession and extreme sexual tension, beautifully crafted, awash with love. It is narrated completely in the form of letters, mostly from the man but enough from young Bernadette that we understand her feelings.
The writing of letters is to make clear to one another the feelings of the two protagonists, and realistically this works to the extent that they can understand aspects of one another's perspective that they might otherwise have missed. They can offload without interruption. Of course, writing has its limitations, and without the benefit being able to gauge immediately the other person's reaction to different parts of the letters, the writer can go off at a tangent without addressing misunderstandings and insecurities.
There are no spoilers here. All of this you will have judged at a very early stage. I'll be reading more from Melvyn Bragg.
November 30, 2023
63-oji XX a. Aukso fondo knyga. Knyga laiškas vyresnio amžiaus vyro jaunai mylimajai, bandant ją susigrąžinti. Šiuolaikinė britiška Lolitos versija, papildyta kaltės prieš sergančią žmoną, pavydo sukelta beprotyste.
August 22, 2010
This is a well-written, beautifully evocative story of an illicit, thinly veiled relationship between a retired bank manager and an 18-year old young woman in the North of England in the late 1980s.
On the face of it, this story evokes reminders of Nabokov's "Lolita". Yet, as "A TIME TO DANCE" unfolds, the reader sees the blossoming of a relationship between a retired bank manager (who remains nameless) and Bernadette Kennedy, a young lady from a socially disadvantaged background who first comes to the attention of the retired bank manager through an essay she had submitted to a literary contest sponsored by the Rotary Club to which the aforesaid retired bank manager belonged.
Impressed by the quality of Bernadette's essay, he helps carry the winning vote for her. It wasn't until a little later in the story that he meets Bernadette for the first time to congratulate her for winning the top prize, and by degrees, their relationship grows and deepens.
Later in the story, complications develop in the relationship, which cause it to break up.
While this is a story of a love between 2 people from different generations, it is also a very deeply affecting human drama. "A TIME TO DANCE" will leave the reader with nary a dry eye, seeing how it is that Love on a very personal level can broaden and enrich our everyday lives.
On the face of it, this story evokes reminders of Nabokov's "Lolita". Yet, as "A TIME TO DANCE" unfolds, the reader sees the blossoming of a relationship between a retired bank manager (who remains nameless) and Bernadette Kennedy, a young lady from a socially disadvantaged background who first comes to the attention of the retired bank manager through an essay she had submitted to a literary contest sponsored by the Rotary Club to which the aforesaid retired bank manager belonged.
Impressed by the quality of Bernadette's essay, he helps carry the winning vote for her. It wasn't until a little later in the story that he meets Bernadette for the first time to congratulate her for winning the top prize, and by degrees, their relationship grows and deepens.
Later in the story, complications develop in the relationship, which cause it to break up.
While this is a story of a love between 2 people from different generations, it is also a very deeply affecting human drama. "A TIME TO DANCE" will leave the reader with nary a dry eye, seeing how it is that Love on a very personal level can broaden and enrich our everyday lives.
October 14, 2017
I'm not sure this is my favourite Melvyn Bragg though I do admire his writing tremendously. I spent the first half of the book railing at the fifty-four years old bank manager who develops an obsession with an eighteen years old girl to such an extent that nothing else matters in his life. I have no objection to the disparity in ages. If two people love each other, that's all that matters, no matter what their ages but this young girl is so obviously damaged by her miserable upbringing, I wondered why he couldn't put his own feelings to one side and for once consider what is her attraction for him and how he's only compounding her trouble and confusion. And then another voice appears, that of the bank manager's wife, who writes him a letter, outlining her feelings for him and telling him how she's always loved him. I thought at this point, the mood of the story changed and I became more sympathetic to the characters and absorbed in the subtleties of their varying relationships, to the point where it seemed less of an obsession and more of a terrible tragedy. It's beautifully written and I'd like to read it again sometime and give it more thought - a sign of how good a writer Melvyn Bragg is, I think.
January 18, 2021
The first thing I thought of when I got to the hilarious sex scene in the middle of this book was, "I wonder if this ever got nominated for the Bad Sex award?"
Turns out ATTD was the first WINNER of the award so I have really good perception for this kind of thing.
It's not an awful book but it is:
a) criminally overwritten
b) mostly very dull
My second DNF'd effort by Melvyn Bragg.
Turns out ATTD was the first WINNER of the award so I have really good perception for this kind of thing.
It's not an awful book but it is:
a) criminally overwritten
b) mostly very dull
My second DNF'd effort by Melvyn Bragg.
December 3, 2024
My grandmother lent me this book during the summer, and despite being just 200 pages, it took me a couple of months to finish. She also told me this book reminder her of me, which I don't really understand, but that was enough to make me finish it.
Honestly, in the intervals when I wasn't reading this book, I had no desire to pick it up. When I eventually did, I think I enjoyed it, but I struggled with the narrator's persistent self-agony - and if you have to wonder, "Am I enjoying myself?", you are probably not enjoying yourself.
I liked the ambiguous ending, especially as I had mixed feelings about the age gap relationship. The narrator strikes me as unreliable, and obsessive, whilst the object of his affections happens to be a young woman from a less privileged background than his own. In a lot of ways, she holds less power than him - except in her youth, her social adeptness. Even though my head told me it was all wrong, the narrator's passion for Bernadette is very convincing, and he appears self-aware of the imbalanced dynamic between them. Perhaps a bit old-fashioned now, but I could also see how he could - and wanted to - offer her a 'better' life.
Overall, I enjoyed the journey it took me on, whether I sympathise with the narrator or abhor him. Those questions still linger with me now, and I feel differently about the answers from time to time. I would hasten a guess that my grandmother had a very different experience reading this book, though I can't really say what.
Honestly, in the intervals when I wasn't reading this book, I had no desire to pick it up. When I eventually did, I think I enjoyed it, but I struggled with the narrator's persistent self-agony - and if you have to wonder, "Am I enjoying myself?", you are probably not enjoying yourself.
I liked the ambiguous ending, especially as I had mixed feelings about the age gap relationship. The narrator strikes me as unreliable, and obsessive, whilst the object of his affections happens to be a young woman from a less privileged background than his own. In a lot of ways, she holds less power than him - except in her youth, her social adeptness. Even though my head told me it was all wrong, the narrator's passion for Bernadette is very convincing, and he appears self-aware of the imbalanced dynamic between them. Perhaps a bit old-fashioned now, but I could also see how he could - and wanted to - offer her a 'better' life.
Overall, I enjoyed the journey it took me on, whether I sympathise with the narrator or abhor him. Those questions still linger with me now, and I feel differently about the answers from time to time. I would hasten a guess that my grandmother had a very different experience reading this book, though I can't really say what.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2022
Picked this up in a charity shop and was intrigued by the blurb. Enjoyed it!
August 7, 2015
This book was like reading beautiful poetry.
The subject matter at first seems a little risqué – a 54 year old married man falls for a girl 36 years his senior. Now, this could have gone any way really – it could easily have come across perverse or sordid, but it is all credit to the writing that it is in fact is a masterpiece of the emotions.
Bragg’s stunning grasp of the emotive language tells a passionate love story between two unlikely, but intricately complex, individuals. The fact that they come from such different backgrounds – him a retired bank manager and she of gypsy descent – is as much a fact of their love crossing huge boundaries as is the factor of age.
The story is told mainly in the form of letters with them talking through their time together and expressing their feelings for each other. I found out this book won the Bad Sex In Fiction award and I really can’t understand why. Yes, it is relatively descriptive at times but in a poetic style – erotic and open but in an exquisite way. I later read somewhere that the award was given more for publicity than for a genuine reason. I think because of how famous the author is, people feel they have to pick holes and try and find failures in his work. If this was from a relatively unknown author absolutely everyone would be raving about it.
The descriptions - though at their best in doing so - don’t always cover the sex and love between the couple but also incorporate the narrator’s (and I presume Bragg’s) love of the Lake District.
At times this book is heart-breaking, tearing at your heart strings while at other times there is a peaceful beauty about its prose. I found I went through a range of feelings towards the narrator (who remained nameless) from feeling sorry for him, to feeling angry about his lack of concern to his wife and eventually feeling like he redeemed himself, as he cared for her when she was really sickly. There is a touching account of a letter written by his wife that cleverly brings in a whole new character – one who previously had only been a sub-character to make you think of the moral aspect – and you find your emotional attachment getting drawn into the triangle and the complexities of all three of their feelings.
It is a book that makes you realise that nothing is cut and dried when it comes to the human psyche. You could so easily have dismissed this as a dirty old man after a young girl story, but it is Bragg’s brilliant storytelling and language that makes this so much more. I know I shall be returning to this book time and time again.
The subject matter at first seems a little risqué – a 54 year old married man falls for a girl 36 years his senior. Now, this could have gone any way really – it could easily have come across perverse or sordid, but it is all credit to the writing that it is in fact is a masterpiece of the emotions.
Bragg’s stunning grasp of the emotive language tells a passionate love story between two unlikely, but intricately complex, individuals. The fact that they come from such different backgrounds – him a retired bank manager and she of gypsy descent – is as much a fact of their love crossing huge boundaries as is the factor of age.
The story is told mainly in the form of letters with them talking through their time together and expressing their feelings for each other. I found out this book won the Bad Sex In Fiction award and I really can’t understand why. Yes, it is relatively descriptive at times but in a poetic style – erotic and open but in an exquisite way. I later read somewhere that the award was given more for publicity than for a genuine reason. I think because of how famous the author is, people feel they have to pick holes and try and find failures in his work. If this was from a relatively unknown author absolutely everyone would be raving about it.
The descriptions - though at their best in doing so - don’t always cover the sex and love between the couple but also incorporate the narrator’s (and I presume Bragg’s) love of the Lake District.
At times this book is heart-breaking, tearing at your heart strings while at other times there is a peaceful beauty about its prose. I found I went through a range of feelings towards the narrator (who remained nameless) from feeling sorry for him, to feeling angry about his lack of concern to his wife and eventually feeling like he redeemed himself, as he cared for her when she was really sickly. There is a touching account of a letter written by his wife that cleverly brings in a whole new character – one who previously had only been a sub-character to make you think of the moral aspect – and you find your emotional attachment getting drawn into the triangle and the complexities of all three of their feelings.
It is a book that makes you realise that nothing is cut and dried when it comes to the human psyche. You could so easily have dismissed this as a dirty old man after a young girl story, but it is Bragg’s brilliant storytelling and language that makes this so much more. I know I shall be returning to this book time and time again.
August 7, 2013
I thought this was going to be 'Notes on a Scandal' (Zoe Heller) for men. I thought it was going to be a slightly sordid tale of a Pooterish older man lusting after a teenage girl.
Well, our retired bank official did begin in a slightly risible way, making lists, checks and balances, coming over as slightly fussy and old-fashioned. Long married to a now sick and bed-ridden woman for whom he still has much affection, he meets and falls in love with Bernadette, clever and insightful, but definitely from the wrong side of the tracks. Little by little, Bragg helps us believe in the quickly-developing love affair. Our nameless hero manages to convince as the lover of the younger woman. She manages to convince us too that her feelings are real and lasting. The reasons why it all goes wrong seem horribly real too. At the end, we're not sure what will happen after we've turned the final page. A satisfying read.
Well, our retired bank official did begin in a slightly risible way, making lists, checks and balances, coming over as slightly fussy and old-fashioned. Long married to a now sick and bed-ridden woman for whom he still has much affection, he meets and falls in love with Bernadette, clever and insightful, but definitely from the wrong side of the tracks. Little by little, Bragg helps us believe in the quickly-developing love affair. Our nameless hero manages to convince as the lover of the younger woman. She manages to convince us too that her feelings are real and lasting. The reasons why it all goes wrong seem horribly real too. At the end, we're not sure what will happen after we've turned the final page. A satisfying read.
January 5, 2015
A pretty tall tale, but beautifully written by a classy writer writing in the guise of another capable writer. That adds credibility to a finely-crafted and structured story with a magnificent series of conflicts.
July 11, 2008
A lovely long letter - the whole book - one man to his lost love. I've gone back to this book more than once in the mood for a good old romance. - Wonderful prose.
June 15, 2017
How interesting to find that this is only one of several novels with this title. The structure of the novel works well, particularly where the third character's back story is introduced. This balances the self-analytical writing of the main character whose name seems so strangely unimportant and unmemorable. Is this an inevitable outcome of a first-person, epistolatory style?
The description and being in the mind of the main character was certainly convincing. This was less true of two female characters: his lover and his wife. To enjoy a fully-rounded character a reader expects grey and possibly dark grey aspects. Both these women were above criticism. The lover, Bernadette, becomes a very active, uninhibited, monogamous and amorous lover; not what you might expect of a teenage rape victim without the same relentlessly investigative treatment as the protagonist receives. Her moral development is totally out of kilter with her upbringing. Angela, the wife, is a sadly perfect person.
Nevertheless, this love story, conventionally leaping from hope/opposing fortune/misunderstanding/repeat/resolution, is a good and worthy read.
The description and being in the mind of the main character was certainly convincing. This was less true of two female characters: his lover and his wife. To enjoy a fully-rounded character a reader expects grey and possibly dark grey aspects. Both these women were above criticism. The lover, Bernadette, becomes a very active, uninhibited, monogamous and amorous lover; not what you might expect of a teenage rape victim without the same relentlessly investigative treatment as the protagonist receives. Her moral development is totally out of kilter with her upbringing. Angela, the wife, is a sadly perfect person.
Nevertheless, this love story, conventionally leaping from hope/opposing fortune/misunderstanding/repeat/resolution, is a good and worthy read.
November 12, 2018
Confession: I only really bought this because it won the Bad Sex Award in 1993 and it was written by Melvyn Bragg - a combination I can't resist. That said, it was actually pretty good - I'm left not really knowing whether the central relationship is condemned or vindicated. It's easy to get wrapped up in the idea that obsession makes for a great love affair, but actually I think Melv makes a pretty good argument in this novel that it doesn't.
April 26, 2020
Pretty unbelievable. A 54 year old man with elderly sick wife in passionate relationship with 18 year girl. Maybe if he's a multi millionaire or top of some social pile (both without any scruples), but a moderately achieving provincial bank manger in a Northern town? I don't think so.
Easy to read only if I pressed the 'suspend disbelief' button at regular intervals.
Easy to read only if I pressed the 'suspend disbelief' button at regular intervals.
June 23, 2021
Fabulous and highly emotional. Clearly based on 'that book by Nabokov' but much less sickening! There is value in the prose and each character. I remember the series many years ago with Dervla Kirwan and Ronald Pickup but as always the book provides the depth and emotion in spades. Rarely does an ending hit that hard.
March 14, 2021
Found this in a minibieb. Started out as a wtf am I reading but turned out to be a beautifully written story/love letter that felt like poetry. Slowly the characters and their love were building up and it felt realistic.
August 3, 2025
This book completely frustrated me. Both the main characters refusal to act, their constant misgivings and irrational behavior but i suppose that is love. Then the ending, to leave you hanging. I have no certainty that they did end up together as stupid in their thoughts as they were.
October 27, 2019
A moving book, as a 54 year old retired bank manager falls into obsessive love with an 18 year old girl and embarks on a passionate affair.
September 23, 2021
Not something I want to read again but a mans view of obsession with a young girl
June 9, 2023
What a read !
Very well written and intimate. The power of love so intense. It feels like a true story, that the author himself experienced.I really recommend it.
Very well written and intimate. The power of love so intense. It feels like a true story, that the author himself experienced.I really recommend it.
July 16, 2023
Anguished and tender - I heard the echoes in my own heart
July 18, 2015
This novel was first published in 1990 and now that I have finished it, I realise I may have even liked it had I read it 25 years ago. I was younger then and had read fewer books - that may have helped. Now, however, it seems just boring and lifeless.
It is essentially a book about the angst that many men suffer at the age of 50+. It is also a love story, with a fair amount of sex sprinkled in, but it is all so very uninteresting and predictable. I failed to feel anything for any of the characters. The first half read like "Lolita", except that Lolita was in her early teens and Bragg's girl, Bernadette, is all of 18.
The surprise of it is that the book must have been successful when first published because it was dramatised on the BBC.
It is essentially a book about the angst that many men suffer at the age of 50+. It is also a love story, with a fair amount of sex sprinkled in, but it is all so very uninteresting and predictable. I failed to feel anything for any of the characters. The first half read like "Lolita", except that Lolita was in her early teens and Bragg's girl, Bernadette, is all of 18.
The surprise of it is that the book must have been successful when first published because it was dramatised on the BBC.
February 16, 2013
Love this. Having seen the television adaptation many years ago, I loved it and always wanted to read the book.
I'm glad I saw the dramatisation first as I was able to imagine Dervla Kirwan in the lead.
Great storyline, can partially relate to the older man- younger girl storyline from my youth.
I shall read it again soon.
I'm glad I saw the dramatisation first as I was able to imagine Dervla Kirwan in the lead.
Great storyline, can partially relate to the older man- younger girl storyline from my youth.
I shall read it again soon.
October 13, 2012
This novel seems primarily to be the expression of Mr. Bragg's own private fantasies and as such is a little implausible and self indulgent. Whilst well written, the pages at times feel a little sticky.
February 21, 2011
After watching a television adaptation of this novel I decided to read it and was not disappointed.
A tale of illicit love, quite moving and sensual. It consumed me for some time.
A tale of illicit love, quite moving and sensual. It consumed me for some time.
September 8, 2011
This novel explores the relationship between a 54 year old man and a 18 year old girl.
September 6, 2013
This has remained my most loved book for over 20 years. Re-read in the last few days - such a wonderfully honest book with many questions left unanswered I would dearly love a part-two!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews