Mr Golightly's holiday (by Salley Vickers)

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I liked the first two books I read by Salley Vickers, which were quite different from each other. So when I saw ‘Mr Golightly’s holiday’ at a church bookstall, some years ago, I decided to buy it. It’s sat on my to-be-read shelf for nearly four years, but finally I picked it up to read. 

It’s not a long book, but it’s a busy time of year so it took me until today to finish it. Partly that’s because, at first, it really didn’t grip me at all. The writing is almost poetic in places, and there are some gorgeous descriptive passages. But I had to force myself to read, rather than skimming, as they didn’t really add anything to the story.

The main character in the book is a man in his fifties who calls himself Mr Golightly. Nobody ever seems to ask for his first name. He’s moved into rented accommodation in the (fictional) village of Great Calne, which is set at the edge of Dartmoor, in Devon. We soon learn that he’s a writer, who - some time previously - had written an epic work, but his advisers had suggested it was dated. So he’s trying to update it, for a screen adaptation. He hopes for peace and quiet, having semi-retired from his business, but keeps coming up against writers’ block.

Miss Garnet's angel (by Salley Vickers)

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I had not heard of Salley Vickers until her book ‘Grandmothers’ was assigned for our local reading group nearly four years ago. I liked it very much, and put one of the author’s other books on my wishlist. I was given ‘Miss Garnet’s angel’ by a relative… for Christmas 2021. It’s taken me this long to decide to read it.

We meet Miss Julia Garnet shortly after her friend and flatmate Harriet died. Miss Garnet is an organised, staid kind of person who doesn’t really have any other friends. She is, we learn, a left-wing humanist. She must be in her sixties, as she has recently retired. And then, soon after Harriet’s death, her cat Stella disappears. 

Miss Garnet - and she’s referred to by this rather formal name for several chapters - decides she’s going to travel. She is able to rent out her flat quite easily, and, somewhat at random, picks on Venice as a place to visit. The author evidently knows the city well, or has done scrupulous research as the arrival in Venice is described in minute detail, with the scents, sounds and sights that greet Miss Garnet.

She is befriended by two outgoing (and evidently wealthy) Americans, and eventually reaches the small apartment which she has leased for six months. 

Interspersed with Miss Garnet’s story is the account from the biblical ‘apocryphal’ book Tobit. It tells of the young man Tobias (son of Tobit) who travels to a distant region accompanied by an unusual man and a dog. We’re told early on that the guardian is in fact an angel, but Tobias doesn’t learn this until the end of his journey. 

I quite liked the way that the story of Tobias was told, rather more readably than in the original, in short sections at the end of some of the chapters. Miss Garnet does read the story, after seeing paintings featuring Tobias and his companions on an old panel. She is also very taken by a statue of the angel Raphael. 

The book is essentially character-based. Miss Garnet becomes more adventurous, and tells people that her name is Julia. She even falls a little in love, and befriends some young people, too. It’s not entirely clear who she can trust, and there are some revelations that I really wasn’t expecting. I liked the way that she expands her somewhat limited belief system, deciding that perhaps there is something more than what she can sense. She’s in the midst of devout Catholics, and becomes friendly with a priest. 

There’s also a fair bit of story related to restoration of ancient churches and the discovery of long-hidden artwork. But I didn’t find those sections all that interesting and found my mind wandering somewhat in those sections. It’s not a short book - nearly 350 pages in paperback - and I didn’t find myself eager to sit down and read at every moment, as happens with some books.

I very much liked the way that this is about a retired single lady, rather than someone much younger. Having said that, Miss Garnet must have been around my age, but her 'feel' is considerably older. I did like the way that she enlarges her horizons and tries out new things after so many years of being somewhat stuck in a rut.  The ending, however, is bittersweet; I didn’t particularly like it, but it made the book come to a tidy end. Perhaps it’s the only way it could have finished. 

I’m glad I read it; the author has an excellent style, and brings people and places to life. But it’s not a story that’s likely to stay with me, and I doubt if I’ll read it again. It might well inspire some people to travel or be adventurous in other ways, and I think it’s worth reading if you like gentle women’s fiction with not a great deal of plot. But it's unlikely to appeal to anyone under the age of about fifty. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's Book Reviews

Grandmothers (by Salley Vickers)

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Although Salley Vickers has apparently written several other novels, which have been quite widely acclaimed, I hadn’t heard of her. I probably wouldn’t have come across her novel ‘Grandmothers’ but for our local reading group: this was the assigned book for June 2021 and I finished reading just a few hours before the meeting.

It’s a fairly light-weight novel, which I liked very much. There’s not a whole lot of plot; instead, it’s a character-based book, featuring three different women who all play a grandmotherly role. Two of them are in fact grandmothers: Nan, who is small and determined, with a ten-year-old grandson called Billy, and Blanche, who is well-off and likes good clothes, but drinks rather too much. Blanche has two grandchildren, Kitty and Harry, but at the start of the book she had just been told by her son that she may not see them again.

Then there’s Minna, who lives in a shepherd’s hut. Although she’s never had children of her own, local children like her - and she’s particularly fond of ten-year-old Rose, who shares her love of good books. I don’t think it’s mentioned anywhere what age the women are. Blanche comes across as the youngest and Nan the oldest, but I suppose they are all in their seventies, or perhaps late sixties.

I liked these three women very much, in their quite different ways. Nan is somewhat obsessed with leaving all her things in order before she dies, and even having a coffin in place. She discusses options with Billy, who is quite practical and doesn’t see this as morbid at all. Nan often collects Billy from school and he loves being in her flat.

Blanche seems a bit feeble at first - she was widowed, and naturally grieved, but she turned to drink, and made the mistake of drinking too much before driving her grandchildren home. I had some sympathy for her son and his wife, although we never really get to know them. She doesn’t like her daughter-in-law at all, and doesn’t seem to feel much for her grandson. But her granddaughter Kitty is determined to stay in touch - and her trendy, young-looking grandmother is considered rather cool by Kitty’s close friend Faith.

Minna is my favourite of the older women, however. She’s not very confident, and sees other people as superior to her in a lot of ways. But she has a great deal of intuition, and she’s a good listener.

The novel follows these three women and their relationships with the much younger generation, all of which are very special to them, and to the children. It takes place over the course of about a year, in sections connected with school terms and breaks. The author has a good way with descriptions, and I enjoyed reading about various different locations that they travel to. There was just enough to set the scenes without lengthy prose to skim.

Inevitably these women meet eventually, in different places, and tentative friendships start to form. But that’s only later in the book, and doesn’t really affect the relationships with the children. I liked the conversations, and the pace of the book; I felt the bittersweet ending was a tad abrupt, and left rather a lot of questions unanswered, but it was sensitively done.

Of course there are other characters in the book - the children’s parents. I never did remember who was whom, as they’re all quite shadowy; perhaps that’s deliberate. One couple has been separated for a long time, one couple is together but fighting a lot, and possibly moving to Glasgow; one couple is more united. But I couldn’t recall their names when I read one of them, and have entirely forgotten them just a couple of hours after finishing the book.

All in all I thought this an encouraging read, although at the same time I found it poignant from a personal sense, having not been able to see my own grandchildren for nearly 18 months, due to the pandemic. I shall be looking out for other novels by this author.

Recommended if you like gentle character-based stories with some depth but not a great deal of plot.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews