With the publication of "And This Shall Be My Dancing Day", author Jennifer Kavanagh has a genuine flair for eloquent, engaging, entertaining, and narrative driven storytelling. Original and a fun read from start to finish, "And This Shall Be My Dancing Day" is an easy and memorable read, and one that is unreservedly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "And This Shall Be My Dancing Day" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle). ~ James.A. Cox, MidWest Book Review

Beautifully written. Two very different women are drawn together by chance. As we learn about their lives, relationships, love and grief the underlying mystery of the flowers on the doorknob is gently unfolded. ~ Debbie Bristow, Amazon

This is an unusual, kind and uplifting book, which manages to be a gripping page-turner while also bringing the reader to a deeper understanding of how we can find our voices to speak out about injustice... It's a story about how we learn to grieve, to find our voices, and help and support each other in speaking out when we encounter wrong... In a book full of humanity, we understand and sympathise with how people fall into scratchiness with each other, grow apart, and grow together again. In a final coda, the plot manages a satisfying kind of fairytale ending, in which a good person finds happiness, in the face of terrifying social and political headwinds that could have destroyed them entirely. ~ Diana Jeater, Goodreads. Also published in the Friend magazine

A lovely book, discovering the interwoven lives of two very different women. I enjoyed Jennifer Kavanagh’s evocative exploration of their experience of their city and countryside, and the background of serious concern about so many troubling elements of our life today - and the ending! I’d love to know what happened next! ~ Beth Allen, Amazon

5.0 out of 5 stars Very human characters - we know them Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 July 2023 This book brings us into the lives of two different women. Human, flawed, charming and relatable, they discover new facets of themselves as they face different griefs and different challenges. As we travel with them, we look forward to their dancing day. A great read. ~ Kate McNally, Amazon

Heartfelt, heartbreaking, and yet inspiring as the author takes Emma, Nicola, and Denise into a whole new world by taking a huge risk and opening bee doors and ways of a new life. ~ Fran Lewis - Just Reviews

As soon as I got started on your book I sped through it, carried along at first by the details of Emma’s limited life and narrow horizons, her warm relationship with Bob and the contrast with her confident, charismatic sister. And just when I thought I had the measure of the book, as a kind of study of loneliness, the plot suddenly turned on a sixpence into something darker and more alarming and I had to know how the characters’ stories linked together and played out. I very much believed in Emma’s emotional frigidity and her distaste for modernity, and I was glad that she was allowed to thaw at last. Many congratulations on a subtle and moving novel; I hope it does really well for you. ~ Clare Chambers, author of Women’s-prize-longlisted Small Pleasures

In one phrase - I love it! She writes very well. It is so natural. It is like I am watching the scenes unfold instead of reading them off a page. Her writing is reminiscent of Margaret Drabble's novels. ~ Rebecca Riddell, Bookseller at Blackwell's Bookshop

A librarian living her narrow, orderly life recognises she has never lived. A civil servant struggles to reconcile her conscience with the populism of her political masters. Against a background of Brexit, migration politics and the horrors of trafficking, two women look for the strength to change and the courage to act, and in the process forge an unlikely sisterhood in a warm and moving parable about finding ways to grow into the light. An easy, natural and involving read ~ Paul Wilson, Portico Prize-winning author of Do White Whales Sing at the Edge of the World and The Visiting Angel

In times all too quick to judge us and divide us, this patiently perceptive novel sees a deeper and more decent process: how the seeds of concern take root in ordinary, very different lives, sometimes in spite of ourselves; how our individual griefs and struggles can begin, by small steps, to look out as well as inwards; how connections can grow. It is a call to be alert – to the unnoticed harms around us, to the possibilities in each other and ourselves... Not least, it suggests that the courage to take risks can open the door to new life. ~ Philip Gross, Winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, 2009

‘And this shall be my dancing day’ is a small but perfectly formed joy to read! From the outset you are pulled into a mystery and are led to keep turning the pages to discover how things may unfold. As a former librarian myself Emma’s character immediately intrigued me, a professional of the old school and I have met many like her. We follow her as she navigates life, her touching relationship with her neighbour Bob and her complex family dynamics, something we can all relate to. By modern standards, she may be judged to have a ‘limited’ life but far from it. As we go with Emma through the arc of the story, Jennifer Kavanagh leads us to an optimistic and satisfying resolution. ~ Paul Jeorrett, presenter of Bookylicious podcast and former university librarian