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![Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves: A Collection of Short Stories by [Dianne Ascroft]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51coLAmAIWL._SY346_.jpg)
Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves: A Collection of Short Stories Kindle Edition
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The stories were previously printed individually in a variety of publications, including Ireland’s Own magazine, Dead Ink Books’ website, and the writing collections, Fermanagh Miscellany and Tuesdays At Charlie’s.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJune 16, 2012
- File size259 KB
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About the Author
She writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her articles and short stories have been printed in Canadian and Irish magazines and regional newspapers including the Toronto Star, Ireland's Own, Senior Times, Celtic Connection and Irish Connections Canada. Her novel Hitler and Mars Bars was first released in 2008. As the overall winner of Trafford Publishing's Book Deal competition it was released by this POD publisher.
She is co-editor and a regular contributor to The Fermanagh Miscellany, the Fermanagh Authors' Association's yearly anthology and she also contributes material to other local history and writers' anthologies.
Dianne is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, Historical Novel Society, Writers Abroad, Fermanagh Authors' Association and Fermanagh Writers.
She and her husband reside on a small farm in Northern Ireland with an assortment of strong willed animals. Online she can be found at dianneascroft.wordpress.com.
Product details
- ASIN : B008C9DUSA
- Publisher : Dianne Ascroft (June 16, 2012)
- Publication date : June 16, 2012
- Language : English
- File size : 259 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 56 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,436,324 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2,908 in Women's Short Stories
- #14,116 in Romance Collections & Anthologies
- #14,412 in Romance Anthologies (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Dianne Ascroft is a Canadian writer living in Britain. Since moving to Britain in 1990 she has lived in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Online she can be found at http://www.dianneascroft.com.
She writes cozy mystery, historical and contemporary fiction, often with an Irish connection. Her non-fiction articles and short stories have been printed in Canadian and Irish magazines and regional newspapers including the Toronto Star, Ireland's Own, Senior Times, Celtic Connection and Irish Connections Canada.
She was co-editor of The Fermanagh Miscellany, the Fermanagh Authors' Association's yearly anthology for several years and she also contributes material to other local history and writers' anthologies.
Dianne is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, Sisters in Crime, Historical Novel Society, Writers Abroad, Fermanagh Authors' Association and Fermanagh Writers.
Dianne started life in a quiet residential neighbourhood in the buzzing city of Toronto and has progressively moved to smaller places through the years. She now lives on a small farm in Northern Ireland with her husband and an assortment of strong willed animals. If she ever decides to write her autobiography the working title will be 'Downsizing'.
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My favorite of the set was Conquering the Shadows, which is about a mother who is home alone one stormy night with her young children and lets her imagine run a bit wild.
"In the farmhouse after darkness descended each evening she would never stray out of the reach of candlelight or the fire's glow. At bedtime she would race from the kitchen to her bedroom, sometimes stubbing her toes on the stairs in the dark, to escape the hallway's empty blackness and the floorboards creaks and groans."
p.30, Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves by Dianne Ascroft
disclaimer:
This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any type of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers and authors, such as this one, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I received a free review copy of Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves from Tribute Books as part of an online book tour.
They really are short, short stories. That’s what I liked about them. You could read one in one sitting. And they are nice family friendly tales. You could read them aloud to any group, without censorship. Any one of them could be published in the local newspaper, as a common interest story.
There are six stories, altogether. My favorite was the last story, “Going Home.” The author explores the definition of home, in this thought provoking story. In an original twist, the daughter kept referring to her childhood home as “home,” even though she had moved away many years ago. I think anyone who has experienced moving away from home, can relate to it.
The reader can tell that these stories relate to the author’s life, who in real life, is an American living in Ireland. Her Irish neighbors are her inspiration. But they could be anybody’s neighbors. There’s more to her stories than the story line. As “Much More Than A Dancer,” leads to deeper insights than a budding romance, all the stories are “Much More…” Book Clubs will have great discussions.
I received a free e-copy of Dancing Shadows by Tribute Books. No other compensation was received and my review is my honest evaluation.
The collection most certainly lives up to it’s synopsis. The culture within the pages is rich and I found myself smiling a bit as I read some of the interactions within the stories. This isn’t a deep book meant to make you think long and hard about serious issues and I like that. It’s about real life. It’s about seeing little glimpses of a character’s life and some of the stories end in ways that the reader can fill in the blanks if they wish.
Miss Ashcroft has crafted a charming collection filled with characters anyone can relate to. While there is a definitely cultural influence in each one, the characters deal with universal thoughts, feelings, and fears. No matter what the content of each story, she manages to include one central theme in each: hope. Don’t we all need a little bit of that from time to time?
A Link to Her Past
A World Apart
Just A Cough
Much More Than A Dancer
Conquering the Shadows
Going Home
Each story is cleverly written to include some kind of life lesson that the reader can take away with them. It may be as simple as listening to your mother or as emotional as confronting the one who got away. I really enjoyed reading each of the short stories and found the characters to be very endearing. The author did a wonderful job writing about real life experiences in this collection. Readers should have no trouble relating to the themes, contexts, and emotions that are presented in these simple tales. Even though they are short, the stories aren't lacking in depth, development, or closure.
Well done, Dianne Ascroft ~ Well done!
Review Copy Courtesy of author, at no cost, in exchange for an honest review.
Top reviews from other countries

Each story is well crafted, giving the reader a glimpse into the life of the characters in the stories and how they deal with life's worries and daily trials. The stories are all heart-warming and left me feeling that there can be happy endings as long as we don't jump to the wrong conclusions and enjoy our surroundings and what each new day can bring.
`A link to her past' explains how you're never too old to use technology and the results may be better than you could imagine. `A world apart' shows that new friendships can be found anywhere and we shouldn't jump to the wrong conclusions about people we don't really know. In `Just a cough' Fiona learns the hard way that you can't win a battle against the weather or a snowplough driver, whilst Catherine discovers dreams can come true in `Much more than a dancer' and Karen returns home to Ireland after visiting family in Toronto with a comforting souvenir from her childhood in `Going Home'.
I enjoyed all the stories though my favourite is `Conquering the Shadows' - it took me back to my childhood when we had an open fire and I used to watch the flames flicker and the shadows dance on the wall while the wind howled outside. No matter what shapes the shadows took, the glow of the fire banished any fears leaving a warm and cosy feeling.

The writing was refreshingly good, clear, literate and with a few outstanding and memorable phrases. The subjects are not earth shattering or fabulous but nevertheless they are the subjects of our own lives and as such are worthy of an author's consideration. I enjoyed these stories and would happily read more of Dianne Ascroft's work.

subject matter of each story. She writes in a . clear uncomplicated style and this makes the stories a pleasure to read..
It would be a great book to have with you when travelling- -easy to read a couple of stories, set down and pick up again.
Anyone who likes simple stories with an Irish flavour will enjoy these, - I would recommend this collection of stories
i hope she is working on a sequel to her novel - i would love to read the adventures of the main character when he grows up..
