Dance a Little Longer

by Jane Roberts Wood

Book Overview

The Lucinda "Lucy" Richards trilogy, spanning the years from 1911 to the 1930s, has everything good books should have: a variety of landscapes, characters of all ages and social classes, an overall... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1574410806
• ISBN13: 9781574410808
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: University of North Texas Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Hard times

The final book in Jane Roberts Woods' trilogy finds Lucy Richards Arnold in rural West Texas, during the depression. The harsh and arid landscape of the land is barely relieved by the people who populate the area,and the nearest town, Blue Bonnet. Lucy and her husband Josh are working for the area school, she is once again teaching and he is the principal....and neither are made welcomed by the populace. They do make friends within the community and are able to undersatnd the dermands on those around them,but nothing is heard from characters at home, except for a brief appearance by Jeremiah. Their son, John Patrick is a continuous light in their lives, but hard times and very little hope for relief have made the entire area weary and unwelcoming. Once again Woods has been able to capture a time and place in Teaxs history and populate it with believable and complex characters.The realities of small town life, especially in hard times,ring true. The whole book is suffused with the feel of the times, and is a wonderful look at characters we have come to care for.

Heartbreaking and Heartwarming

The best book of the series, this story follows The Train to Estelline and A Place called Sweet Shrub. Set during the Great Depression in the bleak, gnarled landscape and drought of West Texas, the characters Josh & Lucy, now with a 4 year old son, settle into their jobs in a troubled school. The deprivation and desperation of the depression sweep over the reader on almost every page, but the high spirited, high minded scholars meet each challenge as it tumbles into the schoolyard. The characters are sketched with a light and usually loving hand, and the situations are not sugar-coated but realistic and often harsh. The "West Texas-isms" are accurate and amusing. The book moves quickly to a ending that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. And completely true to this reader's experience.