Revelle by Alison Wiley

I was delighted when Alison of Diamond Cut Life recently asked me to review a copy of her brand new novel Revelle.

Revelle Jones Champagne is a dancer, in tune with her body and the world around her through the joy of dance and the support of her unconventional church community. Dance and her inner joy see her through many challenges in her life including abuse, redundancy and a failed marriage. She feels like a very real character, likeable and engaging though also exasperating, flawed and liable to make bad judgements.

Revelle also loves nature. My favourite scene in the book is where she dances with horses:

Surprisingly [the three horses] all walked towards me, as if I had food for them or they knew me. They stopped at the fence and looked at me alertly. I looked back at them, engaged, and bounced on my toes, feeling a bit excited. The bay tossed his handsome head up and down as if sharing the feeling. The chestnut pawed the ground. I trotted alongside the fence a few yarsd, looking over my shoulder to keep eye contact, inviting them to move with me. They came right along. I was delighted. Fellow dancers!
.......

I capered and pranced fifty yards in one direction , then back again. They mirrored me on the other side of the fence, trotting and turning on cue. I felt their energy like an infusion into my thigh muscles, burning warm and bright. I ran faster and they moved from trotting to cantering.

This is a novel about finding the strength to keep going through the bad times. At the end, though Revelle has extricated herself from her unhappy marriage, it is unclear where she will go next. But the reader can be certain that wherever she goes, Revelle will be dancing.

Revelle by Alison Wiley, will be published by Diamond Cut Life Publishing on 20 January.

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