Childhood, especially the growing-up years, is sometimes characterized by loneliness and uncertainty, a groping toward being, becoming. The themes of alienation and self-discovery appear with frequency in contemporary fiction. In A Dance to Still Music these themes are paramount and handled by Barbara Corcoran with finesse…. The purpose of A Dance to Still Music is not ordinary entertainment, certainly not light amusement. This is a haunting story, one with suspenseful plot, undergirded with bold, fast-paced mental actions to which much of the physical is only incidental. The characters are vivid, real, sometimes Steinbeckian…. In the hands of a less gifted writer Margaret's story could have been maudlin; instead it is a "dance to still music," a celebration of life. (p. 201)