Dance Away with Me

Starred review from March 16, 2020
Two people determined to withdraw from society instead discover the power of human connection in this deeply felt romance from Phillips (First Star I See Tonight). Midwife Tess Hartsong retreats to remote Runaway Mountain, Tenn., following the death of her husband. While letting loose with a cathartic one-person dance party, Tess provokes the anger of Ian North, a reclusive artist who just moved nearby and confronts Tess over the volume of her music. He’s quickly followed by the pregnant Bianca, who introduces herself as Ian’s wife and strikes up an easy friendship with Tess. When Bianca goes into early labor with no time to get to the hospital, Ian calls upon Tess’s help in a tense, deeply emotional scene that ends with Bianca’s death. Ian hires Tess to help take care of the premature baby and, despite her best efforts, Tess can’t help getting attached to the newborn. Raising the baby together while facing a firestorm of town gossip, Tess and Ian grow close and open up about their secrets, among them the true nature of Ian and Bianca’s relationship. Phillips layers this poignant love story with robust descriptions of mountain scenery and society, and a well-handled subplot about Tess’s fight for comprehensive sex education for the town’s teens. This stirring romance is sure to capture readers’ hearts. Agent: Steve Axelrod, the Axelrod Agency.

This audiobook begins in a small town high in the Tennessee mountains. Midwife Tess Hartsong is running away from the pain of losing her husband. Narrator Nicole Poole brings her suffering to life. Also escaping from their former lives are street artist Ian North and his pregnant companion, Bianca. Poole provides a Southern twang to the locals, helping listeners get lost in the story. One can easily imagine the coffee shop where Tess ends up working alongside her sulky co-workers and her boss, who loves the Grateful Dead. When Bianca dies in childbirth and Tess and Ian come to care for her child, Poole wrings all the emotions out of the situation. Listeners will root for the characters. S.B. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine