The Ten O'Clock Horses by Laurie Graham

Ronnie Glover is not happy with his life. It is 1962, he is married with two daughters, has a steady job as a housepainter. Feeling that life has more to offer he starts dabbling in art and learning Italian. Then his younger daughter starts learning ballet leading to new opportunities for Ronnie.

Something I found difficult in this book was the lack of a female character I could feel any kind of sympathy towards. I think Eileen, Ronnie's wife, was supposed to fill that role but I found her pathetic, I find it difficult to feel any warmth toward women who show total lack of ambition or aspiration. Ronnie's mother was particularly unpleasant in her dealings with him as a child. Jack, the ballet teacher I found to be manipulative, taking advantage of other people's unhappiness to satisfy her own desires.

Ronnie's sadness and desperate longing to escape his current situation is very touching, I think most of us have at times felt the way he does, that surely there is more to life than it currently offers and wanting more for ourselves and our families . Is it wrong to aspire to greater things? Or just wrong to lose sight of why we want them?

I have read this book toward the Four month reading challenge and the Typically British reading challenge.