The Ballroom on Magnolia Street
If you're young and single (and even if you're not), the hottest place to see and be seen in Belfast is the ballroom on Magnolia Street. Oh, it may sound stuffy and old--fashioned, but with bouncers at the door and a DJ spinning alternative rock, it's anything but. Owned by Johnny Hogan, a Hollywood wannabe still sporting the slicked-back hair and outlandish clothes from his 1950s heyday, the thriving nightclub is where sisters Shirley and Kate Winters go to meet men. While Shirley fantasizes about meeting Mr. Right (in the person of Declan Greenwood), footloose Kate is happy to settle for Mr. Right Now. Before long, Shirley's dreams come true when she and Declan fall madly in love. Their sudden engagement forces Kate to ratchet up the race to beat her kid sister to the altar. She's missing only one thing: a groom. Owens' follow-up to her delightful debut novel,The Tea House on Mulberry Street(2005), is a comic, capricious escapade brimming with winsome, quirky characters.Carol HaggasCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved