12 Volumes, and well over 3000 pages later, I finally finished Dance a few weeks ago and I miss it a lot. It was funny, charming, and, in a strange way, quite moving. I’m not being melodramatic in saying that it has changed the way I look at the world a little.  Admittedly I was ready for the end by the time it came round simply because most of the characters I’d come to know had died. It really is a wonderful novel (or novel series) and I’d recommend it to anyone. It sweeps through the 20th century carrying an enormous number of characters (over 300) with it. Their intertwined lives are the plot, and there isn’t really a wider narrative to speak of (as there is in, say, A Suitable Boy) ; this takes a little getting used to, but I now see it as part of the novel’s charm. If you have some time on your hands, give it a go.