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Other People
June and her father stared for a moment into each other’s minds. He looked away first; and with a stab of joy June knew he was afraid of her and that she hated him.
It is summer in small town Havenport. Protected from the world by her devoted mother, fifteen-year-old June is content and completely self-absorbed. Her biggest concern is where she will be holidaying this year.
When June’s father reappears after twelve years in Australia, she is thrust abruptly into a different life: new house, town, school. She soon suspects that she does not know the full story about her father, and when she meets Tony Townsend, he and his London life suddenly promise a glamorous and alluring alternative . . .
Other People is a compelling coming-of-age novel, told with Dale’s trademark wit, observation and canny dissection of relationships.
It is summer in small town Havenport. Protected from the world by her devoted mother, fifteen-year-old June is content and completely self-absorbed. Her biggest concern is where she will be holidaying this year.
When June’s father reappears after twelve years in Australia, she is thrust abruptly into a different life: new house, town, school. She soon suspects that she does not know the full story about her father, and when she meets Tony Townsend, he and his London life suddenly promise a glamorous and alluring alternative . . .
Other People is a compelling coming-of-age novel, told with Dale’s trademark wit, observation and canny dissection of relationships.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Celia Dale
26 books39 followersNot very much is known about the author Celia Dale except for a few scant details. Celia Dale was born in 1912 and she was daughter of the actor, James Dale and was married to the journalist and critic, Guy Ramsey until his death in 1959. She worked in Fleet Street and as a publishers adviser and book reviewer. Some of her books were dramatised on radio and TV. Dales first book appeared in 1943 but it was her later novels where she branched out in to the realms of psychological crime. In all, Dale produced thirteen novels and a collection of short stories.
Celia Dale took everyday domestic situations and gave them a bitter twist. In Helping with Enquiries there are only three main protagonists, their story revolving around the murder of the mother. In A Helping Hand the vulnerability of the elderly is masterfully portrayed. Dale won the 1986 Crime Writers Association Veuve Cliquot Short Story Award for Lines of Communication which appears in her short story collection, A Personal Call and other stories which show that Dale had the short story down to a fine art. Her final book in 1988 was Sheeps Clothing.
Celia Dale died on the 31st December 2011, just short of her hundredth birthday. - Excerpted from FantasticFiction
Novels
The Least of These (1944)
To Hold the Mirror (1946)
The Dry Land (1952)
The Wooden O (1953)
Trial of Strength (1955)
A Spring of Love (1960)
Other People (1964)
A Helping Hand (1966)
Act of Love (1969)
A Dark Corner (1971)
The Innocent Party (1973)
Helping with Enquiries (1979)
aka The Deception
Sheep's Clothing (1988)
Celia Dale took everyday domestic situations and gave them a bitter twist. In Helping with Enquiries there are only three main protagonists, their story revolving around the murder of the mother. In A Helping Hand the vulnerability of the elderly is masterfully portrayed. Dale won the 1986 Crime Writers Association Veuve Cliquot Short Story Award for Lines of Communication which appears in her short story collection, A Personal Call and other stories which show that Dale had the short story down to a fine art. Her final book in 1988 was Sheeps Clothing.
Celia Dale died on the 31st December 2011, just short of her hundredth birthday. - Excerpted from FantasticFiction
Novels
The Least of These (1944)
To Hold the Mirror (1946)
The Dry Land (1952)
The Wooden O (1953)
Trial of Strength (1955)
A Spring of Love (1960)
Other People (1964)
A Helping Hand (1966)
Act of Love (1969)
A Dark Corner (1971)
The Innocent Party (1973)
Helping with Enquiries (1979)
aka The Deception
Sheep's Clothing (1988)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 30, 2025
On a bit of a mission to read more of Celia Dale’s books I managed to find this little treasure on my Kindle and was delighted to see that the inimitable Daunt books have reprinted several of her quite limited oeuvre: their covers are much more atmospheric than the boring one reprinted above.
This novel is a Bildungsroman about a young girl, June, living with her mother first in a cleverly described 1960s South coast holiday town and then in the outskirts of Bristol where her father mysteriously reappears after a long sojourn in ‘Australia’: he left when June was a baby and she has no previous memory of him. As with all of Dale’s books nothing is as it seems and the plot is a dense psychological thriller. There are in addition glorious descriptions of several interludes in rundown post war London, which the author always captures so well. The reader is deftly taken to an appropriately dark finale.
Overall a good read for a gloomy time of year.
EDIT: I have just realised that this is a sequel to A Spring of Love. However as a psychological thriller, I think it’s best to view Other People in isolation and read A Spring of Love as a prequel afterwards.
This novel is a Bildungsroman about a young girl, June, living with her mother first in a cleverly described 1960s South coast holiday town and then in the outskirts of Bristol where her father mysteriously reappears after a long sojourn in ‘Australia’: he left when June was a baby and she has no previous memory of him. As with all of Dale’s books nothing is as it seems and the plot is a dense psychological thriller. There are in addition glorious descriptions of several interludes in rundown post war London, which the author always captures so well. The reader is deftly taken to an appropriately dark finale.
Overall a good read for a gloomy time of year.
EDIT: I have just realised that this is a sequel to A Spring of Love. However as a psychological thriller, I think it’s best to view Other People in isolation and read A Spring of Love as a prequel afterwards.
September 4, 2025
it took me an embarrassingly long time to work out that this is actually a sequel to A Spring Of Love which i read less than a year ago! i was struggling to get into it and kind of wish i'd known going into it that it was a sequel and it's kind of weird to me that it's not been marketed as one but i guess it is a 60 year old book so how much marketing can you really do for it?
i hope Daunt put out even more of Celia Dale's books, it's a shame she's been forgotten because she's fucking brilliant.
i hope Daunt put out even more of Celia Dale's books, it's a shame she's been forgotten because she's fucking brilliant.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2026
Celia Dale is the master of working class suburban English psychological noir and this coming of age novel with a twist does not disappoint in the slightest. Celia is both a magician in being able to tap into the universality of her characters's feelings, the difficult passage from childhood to being a young female teenager and stepping or plunging in the difficult unchartered territory of adulthood as well as the recreating of the very particular setting of the socio-economic world of the working classes in a post-war 1960s England, a country finding its own place in the world, with the arrival of the new immigrants into what would have been a very parochial pre-war world. A great master of suspense, you will never be disappointed with a Celia interlude. A strong 3.75.
March 1, 2026
É o primeiro livro que leio desta autora e estou completamente deslumbrada com a forma como ela descreve personagens tão complexas. Faz-nos entrar a 200% dentro da cabeça de pessoas com quem não nos identificamos (ou assim o achamos), obrigando-nos a “sentar com o desconforto” e a tentar criar alguma empatia com elas.
Fui completamente apanhada de surpresa com o plot twist, a coitada da June foi julgada em praça pública por ter acreditado nas mentiras sem questionar mas eu sinceramente também não as vi 😆
Questiono-me seriamente como é que vou sobreviver quando tiver filhos adolescentes, mas esta em particular até tinha a sua razão.
Fui completamente apanhada de surpresa com o plot twist, a coitada da June foi julgada em praça pública por ter acreditado nas mentiras sem questionar mas eu sinceramente também não as vi 😆
Questiono-me seriamente como é que vou sobreviver quando tiver filhos adolescentes, mas esta em particular até tinha a sua razão.
November 19, 2025
I don't think this book is what the blurb promised it would be. "sun-soaked afternoons in Sloane Square and parties on the King's Road", matched with a glam 60s cover... and there was absolutely none of this in the book.
February 9, 2026
entweder bin ich irgendwie nicht mehr anfällig für Spannung oder der Twist war für viele von Anfang an klar. an sich ein unterhaltsames Buch und die story und vor allem auch das Ende regen zum Nachdenken an, aber so viel wurde einfach gedroppt und es wurde kaum weiter darauf eingegangen. hab die ganze Zeit gehofft, dass sich alles noch irgendwie zusammenfügt aber das ist für mich nicht passiert. mitgefühlt habe ich fast gar nicht. irgendwie hinterlässt es bei mir Verwirrung und Enttäuschung darüber, dass nicht mehr bei mir angekommen ist
September 2, 2025
What a lovely, lovely book. Written in 1964 and republished with no changes to the use of language, Other People conjures up beautifully a strong sense of the time. It's a compelling slow burn with seemingly ordinary domestic situations vividly drawn with gentle wit, a dash of tension and a chilling twist as June gradually becomes aware of the truth.....
December 30, 2025
I love Celia Dale. It took an embarrassingly long time for me to realise that this is a sequel to Spring of Love, but I love her writing so much. She writes people brilliantly. Excellent book.
April 5, 2026
The ending wouldn't have been any more jarring if there was half a page missing. Terrible.
September 26, 2025
Another intensely atmospheric, claustrophobic slice of 60's life courtesy of the incomparable Celia Dale. A coming of age story that really shocks.
May 25, 2026
(4.5 Stars)
In her 1964 novel, Other People, Dale applies her psychological skills to a classic coming-of-age story that will resonate particularly strongly with anyone who grew up in Britain in the mid-20th century. At first, the set-up might seem fairly familiar: a teenage girl’s world is turned upside down when she must share her mother’s love with a new arrival. Nevertheless, Dale’s penchant for exploring the dark corners of seemingly respectable suburbia emerges as the novel unfolds.
The story revolves around fifteen-year-old June Baxter, a bright and imaginative girl who lives with her mother in the seaside town of Havenport. June and her mother, Esther, who owns and manages a corner shop, have always enjoyed a close relationship, partly because her father, Raymond, has been in Australia since she was a toddler. As far as June is aware, Raymond went away to Australia to work, fell ill there and has been receiving treatment in a sanatorium ever since. Various letters have arrived from Raymond over the years, but June has no memories of her father and no emotional connection to him since his departure. Instead, her life revolves around cosy evenings at home with her mother – they live in the flat about the corner shop – her school days at Jervis’s, where she is on track for good exam results, and time spent with her friends. Like many teenage girls, June has an active imagination, which she channels into daydreams of becoming an actress, or a model, or maybe a fashion photographer, depending on what takes her fancy that particular day.
Everything changes for June when Esther reveals that Raymond will at last be coming back from Australia, as he is well enough to return home. However, the flat above the shop is too small to accommodate the three of them, so Esther thinks the family should move elsewhere. In fact, she’s already sold the Havenport shop and found a new house in Bristol. Naturally, June is horrified at the prospect of her life changing so radically, especially at such a crucial stage in her development. It will mean leaving her familiar school a year before the exams, breaking ties with her existing friends, and most disconcertingly of all, sharing her mum with her father – a man who is virtually a stranger to her due to his absence for the past twelve years. Nevertheless, when June sees their new home in Bristol, she brightens somewhat, buoyed by the prospect of choosing decorations for her bedroom and the opportunities a lively city will present.
While her mother manages the move to Bristol, coupled with Raymond’s arrival, June stays with her godmother, Auntie Norah, in London. Norah, a longstanding friend of Esther’s, is only too happy to welcome her goddaughter, and Dale does a great job of evoking the excitement and bewildering nature of the capital city for June, who is becoming increasingly aware of her own body and developing sexuality, especially in this lively environment.
But when June moves to Bristol, everything falls apart. Before her father’s return, June was the sole recipient of Esther’s love, but now she must share her mother with Raymond. Moreover, the fact that Esther blossoms in Raymond’s presence only adds to June’s jealousy. It’s as if Esther is radiating light from within, a luminosity June has never been able to ignite.
This morning had been the first Christmas with him here, breaking the tradition of Christmases June and her mother had always had together, the getting into Mum’s bed to open the parcels, the slopping round in dressing gowns, the laying of the table while the goose grew tender in the oven. This morning they had all got up and dressed, and the presents had been opened after breakfast, in a room as yet hardly warm. (p. 116)
The situation is equally bleak for June at school, where she fails to settle in despite its positive reputation. Her grades plummet due to a lack of interest in studying, and she struggles to make new friends. In short, the halcyon days of Havenport are long gone, all because he – the father she now detests – decided to come back.
Where was Havenport, sunny and fresh, where Mum’s pretty shop with the china animals and the anniversary cards, where the familiar buildings of Jervis’s, as known as her own home, and Miss Chatham’s firm bosom and her voice making announcements? And her friends, her social life, going out to tea, playing tennis, parties in pretty frocks and the furniture all pushed back in the lounge, the radiogram, the prize for the best hat made out of newspaper, and brothers in blue suits or blazers from the grammar school? Where the dignity, the comfort of belonging? All, all gone because he had come home. (pp. 154–155)
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026...
In her 1964 novel, Other People, Dale applies her psychological skills to a classic coming-of-age story that will resonate particularly strongly with anyone who grew up in Britain in the mid-20th century. At first, the set-up might seem fairly familiar: a teenage girl’s world is turned upside down when she must share her mother’s love with a new arrival. Nevertheless, Dale’s penchant for exploring the dark corners of seemingly respectable suburbia emerges as the novel unfolds.
The story revolves around fifteen-year-old June Baxter, a bright and imaginative girl who lives with her mother in the seaside town of Havenport. June and her mother, Esther, who owns and manages a corner shop, have always enjoyed a close relationship, partly because her father, Raymond, has been in Australia since she was a toddler. As far as June is aware, Raymond went away to Australia to work, fell ill there and has been receiving treatment in a sanatorium ever since. Various letters have arrived from Raymond over the years, but June has no memories of her father and no emotional connection to him since his departure. Instead, her life revolves around cosy evenings at home with her mother – they live in the flat about the corner shop – her school days at Jervis’s, where she is on track for good exam results, and time spent with her friends. Like many teenage girls, June has an active imagination, which she channels into daydreams of becoming an actress, or a model, or maybe a fashion photographer, depending on what takes her fancy that particular day.
Everything changes for June when Esther reveals that Raymond will at last be coming back from Australia, as he is well enough to return home. However, the flat above the shop is too small to accommodate the three of them, so Esther thinks the family should move elsewhere. In fact, she’s already sold the Havenport shop and found a new house in Bristol. Naturally, June is horrified at the prospect of her life changing so radically, especially at such a crucial stage in her development. It will mean leaving her familiar school a year before the exams, breaking ties with her existing friends, and most disconcertingly of all, sharing her mum with her father – a man who is virtually a stranger to her due to his absence for the past twelve years. Nevertheless, when June sees their new home in Bristol, she brightens somewhat, buoyed by the prospect of choosing decorations for her bedroom and the opportunities a lively city will present.
While her mother manages the move to Bristol, coupled with Raymond’s arrival, June stays with her godmother, Auntie Norah, in London. Norah, a longstanding friend of Esther’s, is only too happy to welcome her goddaughter, and Dale does a great job of evoking the excitement and bewildering nature of the capital city for June, who is becoming increasingly aware of her own body and developing sexuality, especially in this lively environment.
But when June moves to Bristol, everything falls apart. Before her father’s return, June was the sole recipient of Esther’s love, but now she must share her mother with Raymond. Moreover, the fact that Esther blossoms in Raymond’s presence only adds to June’s jealousy. It’s as if Esther is radiating light from within, a luminosity June has never been able to ignite.
This morning had been the first Christmas with him here, breaking the tradition of Christmases June and her mother had always had together, the getting into Mum’s bed to open the parcels, the slopping round in dressing gowns, the laying of the table while the goose grew tender in the oven. This morning they had all got up and dressed, and the presents had been opened after breakfast, in a room as yet hardly warm. (p. 116)
The situation is equally bleak for June at school, where she fails to settle in despite its positive reputation. Her grades plummet due to a lack of interest in studying, and she struggles to make new friends. In short, the halcyon days of Havenport are long gone, all because he – the father she now detests – decided to come back.
Where was Havenport, sunny and fresh, where Mum’s pretty shop with the china animals and the anniversary cards, where the familiar buildings of Jervis’s, as known as her own home, and Miss Chatham’s firm bosom and her voice making announcements? And her friends, her social life, going out to tea, playing tennis, parties in pretty frocks and the furniture all pushed back in the lounge, the radiogram, the prize for the best hat made out of newspaper, and brothers in blue suits or blazers from the grammar school? Where the dignity, the comfort of belonging? All, all gone because he had come home. (pp. 154–155)
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026...
April 7, 2026
I was recommended this book by a seller last month and while I have only given it three stars I am very glad I picked it up and read it.
I want to start by stating that the beginning of ‘Other people’ felt slow to me at first, it was rather un compelling but I decided to read on as I can not truly judge a book by the first 3 chapters.
While at first I was not eager to read this text, I gradually became more invested because of the characterisation of ‘June’. Dale’s mimicking of real life emotions that I resonated with through ‘June’ was superb. All of the seemingly mundane aspects of a young girl’s life such as, feelings towards school, parents, relationships was superbly rendered into an almost coming of age story. The author was able to encapsulate into words the average teenage girl’s experience in life (there are a few exceptions for the character of June as her story is a unique one).
Another great aspect of this text was the chapters of characterisation for sub characters, I liked the initial introduction to them through June’s perspective but then the build up of who they were afterwards. (This isn’t the same for every character just most of them).
For me many of the faults of this text lay within the beginning and end, the ending I was much more disappointed with. I understand it was a complex plot and had complex characters, Dale did well in creating realistic characters who were true to the ugliness of real life. But I felt the ending was rushed and not at all true to June’s character, Dale could have done much more with June’s ending and I would have liked to find more about Norah or for June to have more to do with Norah.
I want to start by stating that the beginning of ‘Other people’ felt slow to me at first, it was rather un compelling but I decided to read on as I can not truly judge a book by the first 3 chapters.
While at first I was not eager to read this text, I gradually became more invested because of the characterisation of ‘June’. Dale’s mimicking of real life emotions that I resonated with through ‘June’ was superb. All of the seemingly mundane aspects of a young girl’s life such as, feelings towards school, parents, relationships was superbly rendered into an almost coming of age story. The author was able to encapsulate into words the average teenage girl’s experience in life (there are a few exceptions for the character of June as her story is a unique one).
Another great aspect of this text was the chapters of characterisation for sub characters, I liked the initial introduction to them through June’s perspective but then the build up of who they were afterwards. (This isn’t the same for every character just most of them).
For me many of the faults of this text lay within the beginning and end, the ending I was much more disappointed with. I understand it was a complex plot and had complex characters, Dale did well in creating realistic characters who were true to the ugliness of real life. But I felt the ending was rushed and not at all true to June’s character, Dale could have done much more with June’s ending and I would have liked to find more about Norah or for June to have more to do with Norah.
May 2, 2026
A strangely-shaped bildungsroman, coloured by the bleak realism of 1960s Britain. Densely psychological, yet in a more subtle manner, a novel mostly about growing up: June, our deeply unlikeable teenaged protagonist, flees from the gloomy confines of life with her mother and partially-estranged father, into the equally confusing landscape of adult life.
Dale is a master of working class portraiture, however--on account of my own lack of research--this book wasn't exactly the story I was looking for. I didn't feel anything for June until the very end of the book, aside from pity on account of the universal trials and tribulations of coming-of-age. There are few things in this world more brutal than being prematurely thrust from naive girlhood, into the cold and unforgiving light of reality.
1960s Britain was finding itself, and so is June in this novel. It wasn't to my taste, and that's no fault of the author's. But perhaps the discomfort I felt while reading this book says more about my own revulsion at the cruelty of the turbulent world of adulthood, than it does about the text itself. Dale's vignette of working class existence unsettled me, and comforted me in ways I didn't realise were possible. Her ability to faithfully reconstruct and distill the very essence of working-class comfortable chaos in her depiction of the Parson's family home is masterful, and her style as a writer cannot be repudiated, even if the text was advertised as being about June and her convict father's complicated relationship (which was certainly not the book's focus).
Dale is a master of working class portraiture, however--on account of my own lack of research--this book wasn't exactly the story I was looking for. I didn't feel anything for June until the very end of the book, aside from pity on account of the universal trials and tribulations of coming-of-age. There are few things in this world more brutal than being prematurely thrust from naive girlhood, into the cold and unforgiving light of reality.
1960s Britain was finding itself, and so is June in this novel. It wasn't to my taste, and that's no fault of the author's. But perhaps the discomfort I felt while reading this book says more about my own revulsion at the cruelty of the turbulent world of adulthood, than it does about the text itself. Dale's vignette of working class existence unsettled me, and comforted me in ways I didn't realise were possible. Her ability to faithfully reconstruct and distill the very essence of working-class comfortable chaos in her depiction of the Parson's family home is masterful, and her style as a writer cannot be repudiated, even if the text was advertised as being about June and her convict father's complicated relationship (which was certainly not the book's focus).
April 26, 2026
Interesting idea and glad to have read this although overall I found it unsatisfactory
The first section rang beautifully true - the atmosphere of June’s childhood and school life was so vividly portrayed.
But the central problem for me was to be asked to believe that this sensible and resourceful woman Esther would have stuck by Ray. Just not believable
The first section rang beautifully true - the atmosphere of June’s childhood and school life was so vividly portrayed.
But the central problem for me was to be asked to believe that this sensible and resourceful woman Esther would have stuck by Ray. Just not believable
January 8, 2026
Thanks to another reader’s review I now realise this is the sequel to A Spring of Love. Brilliantly written and the abrupt ending suited the narrative. I was left wanting to know more but also impressed with the lack of follow up on the characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2026
I liked the originality of the plot, and I liked how accurate it felt about the sense of being a teenage girl, but I kept waiting for an emotional punch or morale or, a point, that never arrived. ended like it began.
May 14, 2026
„i used to look at the chaps in prison sometimes and wonder what they was in for. and when i knew i used to wonder more often than not how they ever come to do it, and they wondered the same about me, i expect. we‘re all mysteries, that’s what we are.“
May 25, 2026
Another cracking tale told in a unique and oh so dry style with beautifully evocative and descriptive writing of the times. Couldn’t put it down, yet again with this writer and also was aware of a wry smile throughout. Fabulous.
August 24, 2025
I really enjoyed!! Ending felt maybe a little rushed but I really liked it all
February 3, 2026
Is this a sequel to “A spring of love” - yes.
Is it as good as “A spring of love” - no.
Is it as good as “A spring of love” - no.
April 1, 2026
(read for book club)
Really enjoyed this coming of age and definitely will be looking out for more of Celia dale's writing. I love reading books set in London or with specificity to settings, and this had a lot of references (i.e. Sloane square Peter Jones). if you are London based, daunt books have done reprints of her work with v pretty covers.
Also just discovered that this book follows on from another of Celia Dale's, which I will definitely read. Glad I read in this order though, as there's a bit of a twist which would have been lost if I'd read the mother's narrative first.
Really enjoyed this coming of age and definitely will be looking out for more of Celia dale's writing. I love reading books set in London or with specificity to settings, and this had a lot of references (i.e. Sloane square Peter Jones). if you are London based, daunt books have done reprints of her work with v pretty covers.
Also just discovered that this book follows on from another of Celia Dale's, which I will definitely read. Glad I read in this order though, as there's a bit of a twist which would have been lost if I'd read the mother's narrative first.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews