The Snow Ball – Brigid Brophy (1964) 196 pages
Brigid Brophy is an author who I’ve been meaning to try for a while, and The Snow Ball was a compelling introduction. It has an otherworldly quality, set over the course of one evening at the titular event and based on Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
An eighteenth-century fancy dress ball is being thrown by Anne and her fourth husband Tom-Tom at their Georgian London residence. We follow Anna, Anne’s friend and confidant, throughout the evening. She is dressed as Donna Anna.
“Everyone grew a year older at once on New Year’s Eve, even those whose birthdays had been the day before. They gathered, Anna decided, for consolation: wearing historical costume to offset the advance of history.”
The incongruity and inaccuracy of the visual experience is used by Brophy to great effect, emphasising the unreality of the evening and showing how easily appearances can crack.
“Anna descended the grand staircase, knowing that Voltaire and Lady Hamilton were waiting for her in the crowd at the bottom. The noise, the scents, the very warmth of the people’s skins came to her as unmistakably twentieth century.”
Brophy has some startling images too, truly original turns of phrase. The décor is somewhat Rococo, with crumbling gold cherubs adorning the walls:
“It was as though between this room and Anna there was a genetic resemblance, a line of descent: as though it were a womb: into which, a newly born cherub in her early forties, she was always welcome to creep back.”
As this middle-aged cherub moves around the party she draws the attention of a man dressed in a black mask as Don Giovanni. She is also watched by Ruth, young and inexperienced, attending her first ball dressed as Cherubino and writing in her diary throughout the night:
“Feel there is something awful about all the people in the world, can’t think what they are here for—they don’t seem to matter—they are like atoms—they just move around without aim attracted or repelled by each other; hardly matters which. Anna K. is the most attractive woman I have ever seen. I detest her.”
We follow the seductions of the night, the dances people engage in both literally and metaphorically. Anna is a slightly subdued character next to the driven sexuality of Don Giovanni or the gregarious sociability of her friend Anne. Yet she is compelling as she tries to work out what happiness looks like for her as a recently divorced woman, against a background of revelry.
(Unlike its source inspiration, the seduction in The Snow Ball is explicitly successful and mutually consensual.)
The Snow Ball is eerie and unnerving while being recognisable. Its characters take pragmatic decisions surrounded by elevated theatricality – at one point peppermint creams rain down. It felt like a masque, but grounded in believable people rather than stock caricatures. It was hugely clever but not alienating and it’s definitely made me keen to pull Brophy’s The King of a Rainy Country out of the TBR.
“‘Have you noticed what a metaphysical ball this is?’ he said. ‘All these people bumping into one another and asking “Who are you?” even when they’ve known each other for years.’”
madame bibi lophile recommends 
Great minds think alike, to (not) be original! I started 2025 determined, absolutely determined, to read something, anything, by Brigid Brophy! I almost picked The Snow Ball, but ultimately went with King of a Rainy Country, just because I loved the title (besides, it made me replace my long discarded college copy of Baudelaire!). I loved Rainy Country; from your review I imagine that my reaction to The Snow Ball will be equally enthused. In addition to everything else, Don Giovanni is one of my favorite operas & I’d be interested to see how this very original writer ties it in to her novel. It took me a little time to get used to Brophy, as she seems one of those rare writers who don’t remind you of anyone but herself! By the end of Rainy Country, however, I was totally hooked. The cover of your edition of The Snow Ball is really gorgeous — I’m green with (a nice kind of) envy.
I think you’re on the other side of the Atlantic from me (so it may not be readily accessible to you), but McNally Editions has just re-published Rainy Country in a spiffy new edition, with a brief but good intro by Stacey D’Erasmo. I don’t think, however, that it has the Afterword, written by Brophy herself, that’s present in my yellowing Virago Modern Classic edition (which also uses a great surrealist painting for its cover art). It’s a tough choice between the two (I opted for both!) but it would be a shame to miss Brophy’s view of her own novel!
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That’s so great to hear how much you loved Rainy Country! I definitely want to get to it soon. You’ve made me dig out the edition I have buried in the TBR, which I knew wasn’t a VMC but I couldn’t remember who had published it. It turns out it’s a small indie called The Coelacanth Press – I think this might be the only book I have from them. Sadly it doesn’t have the Afterword you mention. I’ll just have to track down a VMC edition too, what a shame… 😉
As Don Giovanni is one of your favourite operas I think you’d really enjoy The Snow Ball with the allusions – I hope so! Apparently Brophy was a big fan.
You’re so right that she isn’t reminiscent of anyone else. From this one novel, her voice seems so entirely original.
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A fancy dress ball is an interesting setting for characterisation. Guests can be someone else in their interaction with others while allowing us to see who they really are in their internal monologues.
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Yes, she makes great use of the ball setting, it works really well.
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This does sound brilliant, Madame B. I’m yet to get started with Brophy but I think I too have Rainy Country lurking on the TBR!
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It was great Kaggsy, so clever and inventive but still accessible. I’m looking forward to Rainy Country, I hope we both enjoy it!
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This is very appealing! It sounds somewhat discombobulating, which is always interesting when done well. And, of course, I’m particularly taken by the idea of peppermint creams raining down on them…
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That’s the word FF! It’s grounded in a recognisable reality, but there’s all these layers of unreality over the top of it. It’s a really unique creation.
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Sounds great! Another for the list!
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I hope you enjoy it Cathy!
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I loved Hackenfeller’s Ape and quite enjoyed The Finishing Touch (which I finished a Book A Day in May with one year) but haven’t read this – I did wonder if not knowing the opera at all would mean I missed out on a lot.
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I’ll look out for Hackenfeller’s Ape, thank you for the recommendation!
I don’t think you need to know the opera at all. I had a cursory knowledge and I’m sure opera lovers would pick up more allusions than I did, but it absolutely stands on its own.
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Oh, yes, I was trying to remember which one Jacqui had enjoyed so much, and I think it’s the one that Simon has just mentioned above, Hackenfeller’s Ape. I’ve not read her yet either (and for no good reason, perhaps their both being prominent Virago authors, I get her regularly confused with Kay Boyle).
By the way, look at you GO! More than halfway now!
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I’ll definitely look out for Heckenfeller’s Ape. I hope you enjoy her if you get to her Marcie. I’m trying to remember if I’ve read Kay Boyle, I don’t think I have but she’s definitely in the TBR somewhere…
Thank you for the encouragement! I am flagging a bit but I’m hoping my second wind is just around the corner!
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