The Saturday place (by Alice Peterson)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve acquired most of the novels by Alice Peterson over the past couple of decades, and reread them about four years ago. Then I discovered that I didn’t have ‘The Saturday place’, so I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for Christmas 2024. I’m not sure why I haven’t picked it up before now, but finally I did take it from my to-be-read shelf a few days ago.

The main character is a woman in her early forties called Holly. We meet her, first, on a beach with Jamie in a prologue, set twelve or so years before the main story. We learn a bit about his history, and that he and Holly are planning a life together. He talks about where he wants his ashes scattered, and she tells him not to be morbid..

Then in the first main chapter - a very short one - Holly opens her door to a policeman, telling her the terrible news that Jamie was killed in a car crash. This was not a surprise, given the prologue, and it’s spelled out in the blurb on the back, too.  The novel isn’t about their marriage: it’s about Holly gradually finding new meaning in life, as she comes to terms with what’s happened.

The second chapter starts eighteen months after Holly has had the news. She’s been back at work, she sees her friends… but she dreads evenings alone, and weekends. She eats junk food and drinks too much wine. And now she’s decided to do some voluntary work, to give her a focus for Saturday mornings. So she goes to ‘Soul food’, a community project where ingredients are donated, volunteers cook meals and up to sixty or more people are able to eat. Many are homeless, but everyone is welcome. Anyone who can afford to give a financial contribution usually does so. 

Holly is quite anxious at first but she used to love baking. So she’s assigned to desserts, and quickly finds that doing this gives her something to look forward to, a new challenge, and a way to meet people whose lives are a whole lot worse than hers. She isn’t wealthy, but she’s never had to sleep on the streets or go without a meal. 

All of which is a worthy and potentially interesting story, but I felt it dragged a bit after the early chapters. Holly meets a lot of people, both volunteers and regular diners at Soul Food, but they mostly feel rather two-dimensional. We do get to know Angus, a large guy who is living with his brother who is the main chef, Scottie; Angus drinks and smokes too much and is unmotivated to do anything much. Inevitably he changes, but it’s not entirely clear why he is suddenly so eager to get fit again.

Possibly the most interesting person is Lauren, a nineteen-year-old who was living on the streets but is now in a homeless shelter. She has a social worker who brings her to Soul Food as a reluctant volunteer; both Holly and Angus befriend her. Her story is very sad, rather sordid in places, but she’s a person of integrity and refuses to descend to the lowest depths. She’s also rather stubborn and won’t even consider giving up smoking…

It’s a very readable book, and the pace is mostly good, if a bit rushed in places. But despite some quite serious issues, I never felt really involved with any of the characters. And there are a lot of issues: quite apart from the many homeless people, or those with depression and lack of any motivation, there’s a child with severe anaphylaxis. It feels almost as if the author wanted to include as many different problems as she could, then ends up somewhat skating over most of them. 

There’s a lot of conversation, and Holly is quite introspective at times, in a somewhat repetitive way. She does change her attitudes somewhat over the course of the book and by the end is somewhat ready to move on. But so many other people have problems too that her - quite natural - grieving often feels pushed aside. 

I still liked the book, and found it quite thought-provoking in places. But it’s not one of my favourites by this author. 

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews