The Snow Ball: Brigid Brophy

First published in 1964, ‘The Snow Ball’ is arguably Brigid Brophy’s most brilliant fictional performance, consummately melding her avid interests in opera, sexuality, and psychology. It is New Year’s Eve in London. The occasion is a costume ball on an 18th-century theme in the grand London residence of Tom and four-times-married Anne. Anna K attends alone, dressed as Donna Anna from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, unhappily preoccupied by her age and appearance and a general distaste for the occasion.