There are over 1000 Amazon reviews of The Ballroom Café but this five star review is one of my favourites.

The Ballroom Cafe is an exceptionally well-written novel that made me do things I have not done in a long while.
I found myself waking up earlier than normal in the morning to take up the story of the goings-on at a delapidated Irish country mansion named Roscarbury Hall where a good deal of this absorbing tale unfolds.
I shed tears more than once reading it. As a grown man, I was surprised to feel them roll down my cheeks. But they were not tears of outright sorrow but tears of compassion and even relief.
The novel is populated by many memorable characters but the fundamental relationship is that of two sisters whose lives are bound together by tragedy, bitterness and betrayal. But, deep below the permafrost of their relationship, and despite decades of giving each other the silent treatment, it is hoped by the reader there must surely be something remaining of a once warm sisterly love.
They live in the rambling mansion amid overgrown gardens and misty parklands. They only communicate through notes left on the hall table. The story reverts back to happier, earlier times when the sisters, Ella and Roberta, were young, inseparable, with hearts too vulnerable to the crafty charms of a certain young man.
But, in the cold reality of the present day, Ella takes unilateral action to earn some desperately needed money by opening a cafe at the mansion despite a succession of strongly worded insulting notes from Roberta, who has been hitting the sherry for years.
An American woman Debbie arrives at the cafe one day looking for answers about her own past. She has experienced loss and endured horror in her own life. A number of connections are uncovered in her search amid this book's richly woven tapestry of intrigue, heartache
and, indeed, downright hilarity at times.
There were so many things I enjoyed as the tale unfolded. Some of the characters made me laugh out loud.
It also brings to life historical anger-inducing events in which babies were exported from Ireland to wealthly couples overseas while their single mothers were treated dispicably by religious orders that were aided and abetted by the women's own families.
There are villians in the story but each one has some redeeming traits.
The author displays a fine ear for dialogue, verbal jousting, and well chosen barbs. But also there are many beautiful evocations of love, loss, and longing. And her depictions of some of the most delicate moments of the story are a delight.
There are many mouth-watering references to the baking of cakes and buns. Dieting readers would best not read the book within jogging distance of a bakery.
She also includes some fascinating descriptions of brooches which have been inherited by Ella. Somewhere in each section of the book, another brooch is unwrapped and described in exquisite detail, evoking the pleasures of exploring an old relative's jewellery box.
Ultimately, it proved to be a story that left me deeply satisfied. I strongly recommend this novel and I hope author Ann O'Loughlin has another book on the way soon.