Joanna Jemmette

Because the Dance Was Long Joanna Jemmette

When Ann King gets her break she can't believe her luck. Only seventeen and dead set on acting, she's fortunate enough to be offered a summer with the Flood Players, a solid little troupe of repertory actors taking over Leek town hall for the season to perform for the townsfolk. She jumps at the chance, says goodbye to her family and sets off to join them, plunging head-first into all her future has to offer her. Little does she know what is about to happen! In no time at all, Ann finds herself caught up in the whirlwind of theatrical life; drinking in pubs, getting thrown out of the YWCA, making friends and, most importantly, learning her craft. Things become yet more interesting when she and Rose, her new best friend and fellow actor, move into digs with the wonderfully eccentric Mrs Welles and her children, and find themselves adopted into a most unusual kind of family. Add to this the intrigue of a burgeoning new romance and Ann's life is complete. The sleepy market town of Leek will never be the same again, and neither will Ann!