Dance of the years

Published as The Galantrys in America, Dance of the Years is one of Margery Allingham's oft overlooked novels. Originally published in 1943, it is a fictionalised account of Allingham's family heritage, which she insisted as the closest records of the facts. First published in 1943, Dance of the Years centres on the birth and growth of James, the fictional representative of Margery's great-grandfather who was `born in 1800 and left ten thousand pounds and the injunction that no gentleman ever works'. The offspring of a Georgian country gentleman and a gypsy, James becomes an early-Victorian success, devoting his riches to becoming a gentleman and establishing a family name. A fascinating exploration of family ties and values by a famous author of detective crime fiction, this title will appeal to a wide range of readers.