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Mr Golightly's Holiday
Many years ago Mr Golightly wrote a work of dramatic fiction which grew to be an astonishing international best-seller. But his reputation is on the decline and he finds himself badly out of touch with the modern world.
He decides to take a holiday and comes to the historic village of Great Calne, hoping to use the opportunity to bring his great work up to date. But he soon finds that events take over his plans and that the themes he has written on are being strangely replicated in the lives of the villagers he is staying among.
As he comes to know his neighbours better, Mr Golightly begins to examine his attitude to love and to ponder the terrible catastrophe of his son's death. And as the drama unfolds we begin to learn the true, and extraordinary, identity of Mr Golightly and the nature of the secret sorrow which haunts him and links him to his new friends.
He decides to take a holiday and comes to the historic village of Great Calne, hoping to use the opportunity to bring his great work up to date. But he soon finds that events take over his plans and that the themes he has written on are being strangely replicated in the lives of the villagers he is staying among.
As he comes to know his neighbours better, Mr Golightly begins to examine his attitude to love and to ponder the terrible catastrophe of his son's death. And as the drama unfolds we begin to learn the true, and extraordinary, identity of Mr Golightly and the nature of the secret sorrow which haunts him and links him to his new friends.
345 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
70 people are currently reading
489 people want to read
About the author
Salley Vickers
37 books349 followersSalley Vickers was born in Liverpool, the home of her mother, and grew up as the child of parents in the British Communist Party. She won a state scholarship to St Paul’s Girl’s School and went on to read English at Newnham College Cambridge.
She has worked, variously, as a cleaner, a dancer, an artist’s model, a teacher of children with special needs, a university teacher of literature, and a psychoanalyst. Her first novel, ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’, became an international word-of-mouth bestseller. She now writes full time and lectures widely on many subjects, particularly the connections between, art, literature, psychology and religion.
Her principal interests are opera, bird watching, dancing, and poetry. One of her father's favourite poets, W.B.Yeats, was responsible for her name Salley, (the Irish for 'willow') which comes from Yeats’s poem set to music by Benjamin Britten 'Down by the salley gardens'.
She has worked, variously, as a cleaner, a dancer, an artist’s model, a teacher of children with special needs, a university teacher of literature, and a psychoanalyst. Her first novel, ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’, became an international word-of-mouth bestseller. She now writes full time and lectures widely on many subjects, particularly the connections between, art, literature, psychology and religion.
Her principal interests are opera, bird watching, dancing, and poetry. One of her father's favourite poets, W.B.Yeats, was responsible for her name Salley, (the Irish for 'willow') which comes from Yeats’s poem set to music by Benjamin Britten 'Down by the salley gardens'.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
October 29, 2011
Rating: 3.5* of five
I fell in love with Salley Vickers when I read "Miss Garnet's Angel" ten or so years ago. It's set in Venice, a city I simply adore. It's a beautifully imagined moment in a solitary person's life, one where limitless possibilities open up inside her.
Then came "Instances of the Number 3", a very very odd book that captivated me despite my discomfort with the subject of a widow's growing fascination with her husband's transsexual mistress. These are books of courage and beauty.
Now this. I wasn't at all sure why, but I was drawn to Mr. Golightly as an exemplar of the kind of quiet, reserved, polite man of late middle age that I am. (Stop laughing.) Normally I give fiction about such men a wide berth because their lives are presented as so arid and meaningless...yet this is Salley Vickers, after all, and one can trust her to find an angle not instantly obvious, can't one?
Uhhh...I guess so...after all, Golightly's loss of his son is presented as the central event in his life, one that caused his entire world to rearrange and reorient itself. I know from losing my own son that this is the way many, if not most, of us respond to loss and grief for our dead children. But the writer in me was itchy. What was Vickers playing at? Where was the element of unexpectedness that her previous books delivered?
I'm glad I was patient. She delivered. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn't anything other than solidly conceived and executed fiction plotting. So much tidier than life.
I quibble with some of the authorial choices made, I sigh frustratedly over some infelicities of editing ("hoard" when "horde" is meant, oof), and I don't at all know what I really think about her central premise as tied together at the end...I think Golightly gets off rather too easily, but then again I'm a mean old cuss...but it's Salley Vickers, so you can take it from me that it's very much worth a read and will reward you for spending your time with its gentle, flawed, angry, hurt, practical, loving characters. It's like making a village-ful of friends in a few hours, and getting to leave before they get tedious.
Say...I think I just explained British cozy fiction!
I fell in love with Salley Vickers when I read "Miss Garnet's Angel" ten or so years ago. It's set in Venice, a city I simply adore. It's a beautifully imagined moment in a solitary person's life, one where limitless possibilities open up inside her.
Then came "Instances of the Number 3", a very very odd book that captivated me despite my discomfort with the subject of a widow's growing fascination with her husband's transsexual mistress. These are books of courage and beauty.
Now this. I wasn't at all sure why, but I was drawn to Mr. Golightly as an exemplar of the kind of quiet, reserved, polite man of late middle age that I am. (Stop laughing.) Normally I give fiction about such men a wide berth because their lives are presented as so arid and meaningless...yet this is Salley Vickers, after all, and one can trust her to find an angle not instantly obvious, can't one?
Uhhh...I guess so...after all, Golightly's loss of his son is presented as the central event in his life, one that caused his entire world to rearrange and reorient itself. I know from losing my own son that this is the way many, if not most, of us respond to loss and grief for our dead children. But the writer in me was itchy. What was Vickers playing at? Where was the element of unexpectedness that her previous books delivered?
I'm glad I was patient. She delivered. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn't anything other than solidly conceived and executed fiction plotting. So much tidier than life.
I quibble with some of the authorial choices made, I sigh frustratedly over some infelicities of editing ("hoard" when "horde" is meant, oof), and I don't at all know what I really think about her central premise as tied together at the end...I think Golightly gets off rather too easily, but then again I'm a mean old cuss...but it's Salley Vickers, so you can take it from me that it's very much worth a read and will reward you for spending your time with its gentle, flawed, angry, hurt, practical, loving characters. It's like making a village-ful of friends in a few hours, and getting to leave before they get tedious.
Say...I think I just explained British cozy fiction!
August 21, 2007
I read this on my own holiday - but this doesn't make it in any way a trashy holiday read. Sally Vickers writes quite beautifully, with engaging characters, subtleties of plot and a central conceit that doesn't emerge till you're nearly through (my English Lit undergrad daughter didn't "get" it till it was absolutely spelled out) that I found deeply satisfying. Big questions presented so accessibly you barely notice you're being asked to consider them.
I was enchanted - don't want to return it to the library at all, which means, I guess, that I'll have to buy a copy. Then if you're very good I might lend it to you - but to be on the safe side you'd better buy your own.
I was enchanted - don't want to return it to the library at all, which means, I guess, that I'll have to buy a copy. Then if you're very good I might lend it to you - but to be on the safe side you'd better buy your own.
November 22, 2017
Set in the Devon village of Great Calne, this story records the events observed, and in part caused, by Mr Golightly. Mr Golightly is the author of a work once famous & which he feels is now in need of being up-dated & he decides that the best way of doing this is to rewrite it as a soap opera.
To undertake this task he hires acottage in apparently idyllic village of Great Calne, a village "with a wide range of carefully differentiated characters, but underneath seething with unseen discontents and rivalries Of course, his work is put on the back-burner as the affairs of the villagers become all-absorbing and gradually draw him in.
The villagers "workout their destinies in a mixture of social comedy (some of it very sharp), melodrama, nature mysticism and visionary redemption" & we begin to learn the true and extraordinary identity of Mr Golightly which is disclosed gradually and may come as a surprise to some....this would have been more of a surprise to me had I not glanced at the comments of praise in the front of the book (one in particular gives it away!) & the extras at the back before reading the book - so my tip is DON'T READ THEM!!!...or at least not till you've finished the book.
A story full of wonderful characters & a lovely book which I'd highly recommend.
To undertake this task he hires acottage in apparently idyllic village of Great Calne, a village "with a wide range of carefully differentiated characters, but underneath seething with unseen discontents and rivalries Of course, his work is put on the back-burner as the affairs of the villagers become all-absorbing and gradually draw him in.
The villagers "workout their destinies in a mixture of social comedy (some of it very sharp), melodrama, nature mysticism and visionary redemption" & we begin to learn the true and extraordinary identity of Mr Golightly which is disclosed gradually and may come as a surprise to some....this would have been more of a surprise to me had I not glanced at the comments of praise in the front of the book (one in particular gives it away!) & the extras at the back before reading the book - so my tip is DON'T READ THEM!!!...or at least not till you've finished the book.
A story full of wonderful characters & a lovely book which I'd highly recommend.
July 3, 2008
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5...
I just cannot get into this!! It is very unusual for me to give up but five chapters is enough to tell me that I just cannot read anymore. If I had read the Amazon reviews properly before starting, maybe I would never have done so? Reading what Amazon has to say, along with my own efforts to try, I have learnt that this is not really a novel but a Fable. Amazon says and I quote that 'One needs a high tolerance of Anglican whimsy to enjoy this'
I just do not feel like reading a novel that is full of allergorical and theological undertones at this time and the soap-opera of the villagers lives just did not catch my imagination.
Just maybe, another time and another place I would try again.
I just cannot get into this!! It is very unusual for me to give up but five chapters is enough to tell me that I just cannot read anymore. If I had read the Amazon reviews properly before starting, maybe I would never have done so? Reading what Amazon has to say, along with my own efforts to try, I have learnt that this is not really a novel but a Fable. Amazon says and I quote that 'One needs a high tolerance of Anglican whimsy to enjoy this'
I just do not feel like reading a novel that is full of allergorical and theological undertones at this time and the soap-opera of the villagers lives just did not catch my imagination.
Just maybe, another time and another place I would try again.
April 9, 2019
This is a charming but infuriating book, which feels as though it is reaching for more than is realised here; wanting to be both a quirky tragic-comedy and a weighty piece of reflection on the human condition. It ends up being neither, which for a writer who has given us grace and gravitas in Miss Garnet’s Angel (her previous novel) feels particularly strange. The plot concerns the arrival of Mr Golightly, the writer of an international best seller of some years ago, into the Dartmoor village of Great Calne. He is on a working holiday, aiming to reinvigorate his passion for writing and (we are told) also come to terms with the loss of his son.
The moorland setting is the real star of the book, with often exquisite descriptions of weather and wildlife, with no shortage of expositions on love, pain, mortality, often evoked by characters out walking, painting or bird watching. The pace of the prose often slows to fit in with the timelessness of the landscape, which is fine for a while, but the novel struggles to engage our sympathies with any of the villagers, who seem thinly drawn (if not without humour). There is also little in the way of dramatic tension, even when one of the characters sympathetically harbours a fugitive whilst a stereotyped prison officer sniffs around. Through all of these local trials and tribulations, Mr Golightly potters, shaping opinion and action, except because the drama is underwhelming, it is hard to care about his discoveries.
Herein lies a problem, which is probably a structural one. Miss Garnet’s Angel has an intellectual honesty about what it is trying to achieve at the level of religious allegory. The alternating of present day and mythic past allowed the reader to understand the role of ‘angels’ and ‘the divine’ (regardless of what one thought of it). Mr Golightly’s Holiday uses the trope of the mythic stranger arriving into a secluded community replete with colourful histories, loves and antagonisms. Usually this device works best when the visitor retains a degree of the enigmatic, even as they depart to the outside world. Here it doesn’t. Instead, we are hit over the head in the last chapter and told to reinterpret the events of the previous two hundred pages with a heavy dose of the Book of Job from the Old Testament. In this end piece, the conversation between Mr Golightly and ‘his rival’ about the human condition, the role of good and evil, what happened to the ‘son’, intervention and causation, feels shoehorned in to give the plot a meaning and substance which in truth it lacks. Done as a conversation throughout the book would have added something much more ‘weighty’; this way it feels excruciatingly embarrassing.
The author’s afterword indicates difficult circumstances behind the writing of the book, which maybe explains the drop in standard, or an editor being too gentle. Regardless, Vickers is clearly an innovative and interesting writer, worthy of discussion. But this is not the one to start with.
The moorland setting is the real star of the book, with often exquisite descriptions of weather and wildlife, with no shortage of expositions on love, pain, mortality, often evoked by characters out walking, painting or bird watching. The pace of the prose often slows to fit in with the timelessness of the landscape, which is fine for a while, but the novel struggles to engage our sympathies with any of the villagers, who seem thinly drawn (if not without humour). There is also little in the way of dramatic tension, even when one of the characters sympathetically harbours a fugitive whilst a stereotyped prison officer sniffs around. Through all of these local trials and tribulations, Mr Golightly potters, shaping opinion and action, except because the drama is underwhelming, it is hard to care about his discoveries.
Herein lies a problem, which is probably a structural one. Miss Garnet’s Angel has an intellectual honesty about what it is trying to achieve at the level of religious allegory. The alternating of present day and mythic past allowed the reader to understand the role of ‘angels’ and ‘the divine’ (regardless of what one thought of it). Mr Golightly’s Holiday uses the trope of the mythic stranger arriving into a secluded community replete with colourful histories, loves and antagonisms. Usually this device works best when the visitor retains a degree of the enigmatic, even as they depart to the outside world. Here it doesn’t. Instead, we are hit over the head in the last chapter and told to reinterpret the events of the previous two hundred pages with a heavy dose of the Book of Job from the Old Testament. In this end piece, the conversation between Mr Golightly and ‘his rival’ about the human condition, the role of good and evil, what happened to the ‘son’, intervention and causation, feels shoehorned in to give the plot a meaning and substance which in truth it lacks. Done as a conversation throughout the book would have added something much more ‘weighty’; this way it feels excruciatingly embarrassing.
The author’s afterword indicates difficult circumstances behind the writing of the book, which maybe explains the drop in standard, or an editor being too gentle. Regardless, Vickers is clearly an innovative and interesting writer, worthy of discussion. But this is not the one to start with.
March 11, 2024
A beautiful, tender book that leaves you feeling profoundly affected. A story where the titular protagonist first encounters the motley cast of a quaint village as strangers, Vickers crafts her characters with such ease you feel as though you, as well as Mr Golightly, leave with every person meaning so much more.
The elegant prose conveys beautifully the landscape of the moors and its people, and comedically the ability for rural villagers to find drama and intrigue amongst the banal and mundane. Each character is truly their own and the web of relationships, of parents and children, of neighbours and friends, of love and marriage, is beautifully explored in every facet.
You find yourself hanging on to every word and turning page after page. Alas, my only reticence to give the fifth star (I'd give 4.5 if I could) was simply due to finding myself with questions left unanswered in the end, concerning a plot thread which could have been omitted, like sultanas in a salad.
Don't let that detract from what is truly a wonderful and delightful novel. Certainly worth the read.
The elegant prose conveys beautifully the landscape of the moors and its people, and comedically the ability for rural villagers to find drama and intrigue amongst the banal and mundane. Each character is truly their own and the web of relationships, of parents and children, of neighbours and friends, of love and marriage, is beautifully explored in every facet.
You find yourself hanging on to every word and turning page after page. Alas, my only reticence to give the fifth star (I'd give 4.5 if I could) was simply due to finding myself with questions left unanswered in the end, concerning a plot thread which could have been omitted, like sultanas in a salad.
Don't let that detract from what is truly a wonderful and delightful novel. Certainly worth the read.
April 3, 2010
A gentle book which I loved from the beginning. I don't generally reread books but this is written so beautifully and of course having knowledge of the ending will put everything in a different light. I didn't really think the long conversation at the end was necessary but maybe on a second reading I'll have different insights and opinions.
February 15, 2021
I liked it and I didn't. From 2003 one would think I had heard of this book before, but I hadn't. I was initially charmed and drawn in, but as the story matured and I slowly got the glimmer of where it was heading I felt more annoyed than pleased.
Loan from a Friend, thank you!
Loan from a Friend, thank you!
December 8, 2010
It took me while to realise that Mr Golightly was in fact God taking a holiday and as I'm not a religious person, some of it was probably over my head.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 11, 2023
A beautifully written story about life’s biggest questions. Mr Golightly takes a holiday to rewrite and update a book he wrote many years ago that he feels needs updating. As he gets to know the people in the village of Great Calne on the edge of Dartmoor he finds events take over and he questions his view on love and the death of his only son, and you begin to see the true identity of Mr Golightly.
April 5, 2018
I started this book anticipating an awesome read as my friend was so enthusiastic about it. However I did not enjoy the language and added to that someone posted a spoiler about the book which I came across and it did literally spoil the book for me.
November 21, 2023
This book was a very easy, enjoyable read. Not a lot happened, but I was never bored or left wanting more. There was just enough from chapter to chapter to keep me interested and engaged. However, my main issue with this book, and maybe this is just my inability to retain people’s names, was that I really struggled to remember who everyone was. When I first started the book I felt I was constantly being overloaded with new characters I struggled to keep up. But then again, maybe that’s just my bad memory.
I can’t lie, when I reached the end of this book and read the “afterword” I was extremely confused. It wasn’t until I did some research that I realised the real identity of Mr Golightly. This did unfortunately go straight over my head.
I can’t lie, when I reached the end of this book and read the “afterword” I was extremely confused. It wasn’t until I did some research that I realised the real identity of Mr Golightly. This did unfortunately go straight over my head.
August 6, 2016
Fable with an old-fashioned feel (like Mr Golightly), though set in the present. Effective evocation of village life and characters, though inevitably there is a higher than average proportion of "interesting" characters.
Some of the metaphors are trying too hard; it was described by one reviewer as like reading pot-pourri. Rather crass in places, eg the main character's name, the way it refers to The Catastrophe at regular intervals (as if to built up suspense, lest you hadn't noticed there were reasons for Mr Golightly's escape to the countryside) and the names and occupations of the couple at the end.
The final revelations seem quaintly conventional at first thought, but are actually quite controversial (eg ).
Some of the metaphors are trying too hard; it was described by one reviewer as like reading pot-pourri. Rather crass in places, eg the main character's name, the way it refers to The Catastrophe at regular intervals (as if to built up suspense, lest you hadn't noticed there were reasons for Mr Golightly's escape to the countryside) and the names and occupations of the couple at the end.
The final revelations seem quaintly conventional at first thought, but are actually quite controversial (eg ).
May 29, 2013
Another book that had me bamboozled until the last few pages, Mr. Golightly’s Holiday by Salley Vickers, is a novel about a nondescript middle-aged writer who takes a “holiday” in a small English village, ostensibly to work on a re-write of a blockbuster he wrote years before. The clues to his real identity are evident early on but I, of course, was clueless. Shan’t give it away suffice to say I didn’t find Mr. Golightly “profound” or “meaningful” (no comparison to superior works by Dani Shapiro, for example) just annoying.
Since I’m not much of an English-novel reader (prefer the Italians, whom I understand), I was frequently flummoxed and too lazy to research the meanings of Vicker’s veddy veddy English expressions. For instance: hob, Marmite, “brakes” of thorn, “drivers often came a cropper,” a “plashy” bog? A tor? Runes? Huh?
Must agree with the Goodreads reviewer who said it was “A bit too twee for my liking.”
Since I’m not much of an English-novel reader (prefer the Italians, whom I understand), I was frequently flummoxed and too lazy to research the meanings of Vicker’s veddy veddy English expressions. For instance: hob, Marmite, “brakes” of thorn, “drivers often came a cropper,” a “plashy” bog? A tor? Runes? Huh?
Must agree with the Goodreads reviewer who said it was “A bit too twee for my liking.”
September 24, 2014
Book Review by Carinya
Mr Golightly's Holiday by Salley Vickers
What a surprise this book is. I read it, enjoying every page of descriptive, sometimes poetic prose tinged with typically English irony. Then I read certain chapters again to gauge the extent to which I was willing to unpeal the layers of parable so cleverly interwoven in the village gossip and local adventure.
I loved this author's way with words, her summation of the more serious subjects confronting ordinary people and her adept endings. The village setting into which Mr Golightly so easily integrates has the usual share of characters, the unkept truant boy, the female vicar whose husband would try the patience of a saint (which she isn't) and the lonely woman next door (Ellen) who constantly proves how much courage and strength she possesses.
This is a wonderful read for anyone who loves words, emotions, stories retold, sadness, romance, humour and a dash of spirituality.
Mr Golightly's Holiday by Salley Vickers
What a surprise this book is. I read it, enjoying every page of descriptive, sometimes poetic prose tinged with typically English irony. Then I read certain chapters again to gauge the extent to which I was willing to unpeal the layers of parable so cleverly interwoven in the village gossip and local adventure.
I loved this author's way with words, her summation of the more serious subjects confronting ordinary people and her adept endings. The village setting into which Mr Golightly so easily integrates has the usual share of characters, the unkept truant boy, the female vicar whose husband would try the patience of a saint (which she isn't) and the lonely woman next door (Ellen) who constantly proves how much courage and strength she possesses.
This is a wonderful read for anyone who loves words, emotions, stories retold, sadness, romance, humour and a dash of spirituality.
June 28, 2012
What I liked about this book was the Englishness of it -- the characters and scenes that inhabit so many small towns. I've seen places like this when I lived in England, but that was (mumble-mumble) years ago, in another century, another world. You catch glimpses in Agatha Christie stories or even MC Beaton's books. That was the bit of the book which enchanted me. The actual story-line itself, and many of the characters, didn't grab me quite as much.
I do have to admit it took me a while to pick this book off the TBR pile because in my world "GoLYTELY" is a bowel cleanser.
I do have to admit it took me a while to pick this book off the TBR pile because in my world "GoLYTELY" is a bowel cleanser.
April 9, 2021
I was surprised to see other reviewers using phrases such as 'beautifully written'; to me it was clunky, cliched, overdone. You can almost see the author reaching for her thesaurus every other paragraph. And to use the word 'capacious' twice within a few paragraphs ...! Also, some very unrealistic detail in it. One small example: Would the Stag and Badger really be known as the Stag and Badge? No, it would surely be simply 'The Stag'?? And the characters are all just so predictable and unreal (superficial). Extremely disappointed with this book!
April 13, 2008
Hmmmm. Not really my cup of tea although I am sure it will appeal to many. I don't like fantasy and this book has a definite supernatural ending - it gets 5/5 for originality but personally I think it's sentimental and a bit twee! I like to think fiction COULD actually happen even if it doesn't. This never would.....
July 3, 2013
This book is extremely dull. I didn't expect the revelation at the end but by that point I was too bored to care. Maybe, as others have commented, you have to be interested in religion to appreciate this book. For me, it was a chore to read rather than a pleasure.
August 17, 2013
Oh, I *hate* it when the cover itself is a major spoiler. My edition of MGH has Mr G's bestselling masterpiece on the cover. The page layout would suffice, but you can even *read the text*. Dear book cover designers! Each time this happens, a fairy dies...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2019
I was enjoying this book very much for the characters and the way it was constructed. I also appreciate the writing and the sense of place. However, it started to lose me a bit as I realised what was really going on and the fable behind the soap opera.
July 22, 2019
I ultimately only finished the book because I had already invested 100+ pages. I found the book depressing. I was not surprised by the big reveal as I had already sussed it out, and I found the conversation between Mr. Golightly and his rival unsatisfying and underwhelming.
December 2, 2009
A bit too twee for my liking. I got the impression the author could not decide on whether this was to be a philosophical/ religous or just a bit of whimsy.
December 7, 2014
Would have been a better read if it didn't try and to be so clever. Very uneven. Well written in parts but the reveal left me cold.
December 26, 2023
I should have known better. Books that I find tedious early on rarely redeem themselves through their ending. Still, I read on out of curiosity to see what the author would ultimately make of her premise. Answer: Nothing very much.
So, Mr Golightley is supposed to be God. I worked that out after about ten pages or so, therefore it was wearisome to find a heavy-handed hint on almost every page - nudge, nugde, wink, wink, do you get it? Yes, thank you, I got it. I also recognised the quotes in the mysterious emails straight away. Those passages are famous after all; how could Mr Golightly not recognise them? Is there a point to this?
Let’s put it this way: Apart from the clumsy hints, there was no sense at all that Mr Golightly is God. That the creator of the universe should be a slightly befuddled older gentleman who struggles with modern technology and an identity crisis is not even marginally plausible. The most we’d trust Mr Golightly to create would perhaps be a cake. Part of me was hoping that Vickers would spring a surprise on us and Mr Golightly would turn out to be just an ordinary human, but no. I was prepared to be disappointed by the ending, but I was not prepared for the utter cringe of God and the Devil explaining the meaning of the book to the reader. Did the author want to make sure the readers “got it” in case they had overlook the oodles of hints? And what was there to get, other than “Mr Golightly is God”? There were a few points that suggested that the author had engaged in a little theological reflection, but it was all half-baked and wishy-washy. What was the overall gist of the book? I still don’t know.
The book is so cluttered. It is cluttered with characters most of whom are just vaguely defined names or, worse, embarrassing stereotypes. It is cluttered with trivial encounters and with accounts of the characters’ movements about the village – this in lieu of a plot. The books feels as if it is mostly exposition. It doesn’t have a beginning, middle and end, it has a long, long beginning and then an abrupt end with three off-screen deaths. Even the prose is cluttered with superfluous appositions and asides, with pretentious vocabulary and lengthy lists. The lists! It’s not rocket science: for an effective description, list three things. Sometimes four can work, especially if they come as contrasting pairs or build up in intensity. But what does Vickers give us? At one point I counted a dozen items listed in one sentence. Needless to say, such a list lacks internal structure and becomes a mush. As for the pretentious vocabulary, I looked up a few of the obscure words and some of them were not used correctly. I’m not even sure Vickers has fully managed more ordinary language (“their old stamping grounds”, lol, did they used to work at the post office?)
I saw a few other reviewers using the word “twee” and this word also came to my mind. If you are writing a novel about God and the Devil, life and death, love and betrayal; if you are evoking the Book of Job and then your novel turns out twee, something has gone seriously wrong. Perhaps if the book had focused on just Ellen Thomas and Johnny Spence, it would have been better. These characters had potential, but they got lost in the throng of the bland faces that are constantly peeping through windows and turning up on doorsteps. The book gets a couple of brownie points for good intentions, but it is clear that the author doesn’t have the powers to tackle the themes she has chosen.
Ironically, I am writing this review on Christmas Day. Which makes me think that for a well-constructed, well-written story about the divine dwelling among humans, the Gospel of Luke would be a much better choice...)
So, Mr Golightley is supposed to be God. I worked that out after about ten pages or so, therefore it was wearisome to find a heavy-handed hint on almost every page - nudge, nugde, wink, wink, do you get it? Yes, thank you, I got it. I also recognised the quotes in the mysterious emails straight away. Those passages are famous after all; how could Mr Golightly not recognise them? Is there a point to this?
Let’s put it this way: Apart from the clumsy hints, there was no sense at all that Mr Golightly is God. That the creator of the universe should be a slightly befuddled older gentleman who struggles with modern technology and an identity crisis is not even marginally plausible. The most we’d trust Mr Golightly to create would perhaps be a cake. Part of me was hoping that Vickers would spring a surprise on us and Mr Golightly would turn out to be just an ordinary human, but no. I was prepared to be disappointed by the ending, but I was not prepared for the utter cringe of God and the Devil explaining the meaning of the book to the reader. Did the author want to make sure the readers “got it” in case they had overlook the oodles of hints? And what was there to get, other than “Mr Golightly is God”? There were a few points that suggested that the author had engaged in a little theological reflection, but it was all half-baked and wishy-washy. What was the overall gist of the book? I still don’t know.
The book is so cluttered. It is cluttered with characters most of whom are just vaguely defined names or, worse, embarrassing stereotypes. It is cluttered with trivial encounters and with accounts of the characters’ movements about the village – this in lieu of a plot. The books feels as if it is mostly exposition. It doesn’t have a beginning, middle and end, it has a long, long beginning and then an abrupt end with three off-screen deaths. Even the prose is cluttered with superfluous appositions and asides, with pretentious vocabulary and lengthy lists. The lists! It’s not rocket science: for an effective description, list three things. Sometimes four can work, especially if they come as contrasting pairs or build up in intensity. But what does Vickers give us? At one point I counted a dozen items listed in one sentence. Needless to say, such a list lacks internal structure and becomes a mush. As for the pretentious vocabulary, I looked up a few of the obscure words and some of them were not used correctly. I’m not even sure Vickers has fully managed more ordinary language (“their old stamping grounds”, lol, did they used to work at the post office?)
I saw a few other reviewers using the word “twee” and this word also came to my mind. If you are writing a novel about God and the Devil, life and death, love and betrayal; if you are evoking the Book of Job and then your novel turns out twee, something has gone seriously wrong. Perhaps if the book had focused on just Ellen Thomas and Johnny Spence, it would have been better. These characters had potential, but they got lost in the throng of the bland faces that are constantly peeping through windows and turning up on doorsteps. The book gets a couple of brownie points for good intentions, but it is clear that the author doesn’t have the powers to tackle the themes she has chosen.
Ironically, I am writing this review on Christmas Day. Which makes me think that for a well-constructed, well-written story about the divine dwelling among humans, the Gospel of Luke would be a much better choice...)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2018
The curious, I might even say slightly mysterious, character of Mr Golightly arrives in the quiet village of Great Calne, driving a battered and unreliable Morris Traveller, looking for time, inspiration and peace to revise his book. It had been published many years ago and was a bestseller but sales had been dropping. Mr Golightly is intent on re-writing his classic volume, in a contemporary style.
Soon after his arrival in Great Calne, with his laptop computer with which he has uneasy alliance, Mr Golightly becomes considerably more involved in the affairs of the village than he had intended. His involvement in the village's life, of course, hampers his writing no end, scarcely finding time to write, even having taken on young Johny Spence, a clever but mischievous lad frequently truanting from school, as a kind of research assistant.
Although Mr Golightly has an office and staff when he's not on holiday, he seemes to have lived a fairly reclusive existence away from much human contact. Great Calne with its quirky and eccentric population overturns many of Mr Golightly's pre-conceived notions about people in unexpected ways.
Although we are never told who Mr Golightly is beyond his name, clues scattered throughout the story. Most readers will have deduced his identity by the last few chapters.
Sally Vickers has a gentle, easy going way of storytelling. She seems to have an acute ability to observe people and from that observation, construct interesting and surprising characters.
I enjoyed Mr Golightly's Holiday immensly, though if I had to choose between it and Miss Garnet's Angel by the same author, I would choose the latter.
Soon after his arrival in Great Calne, with his laptop computer with which he has uneasy alliance, Mr Golightly becomes considerably more involved in the affairs of the village than he had intended. His involvement in the village's life, of course, hampers his writing no end, scarcely finding time to write, even having taken on young Johny Spence, a clever but mischievous lad frequently truanting from school, as a kind of research assistant.
Although Mr Golightly has an office and staff when he's not on holiday, he seemes to have lived a fairly reclusive existence away from much human contact. Great Calne with its quirky and eccentric population overturns many of Mr Golightly's pre-conceived notions about people in unexpected ways.
Although we are never told who Mr Golightly is beyond his name, clues scattered throughout the story. Most readers will have deduced his identity by the last few chapters.
Sally Vickers has a gentle, easy going way of storytelling. She seems to have an acute ability to observe people and from that observation, construct interesting and surprising characters.
I enjoyed Mr Golightly's Holiday immensly, though if I had to choose between it and Miss Garnet's Angel by the same author, I would choose the latter.
June 27, 2025
What a mixed experience it's been, reading this, my first exposure to Salley Vickers. For the first 100 pages or so I really disliked it and found it very hard to continue reading. It was so purposeless and so vague, with so many characters which, as other reviewers have said, are fairly stereotyped. I kept checking with the reviews printed at the start of the book to see why they all said it was so great. (By the way there are spoilers in those reviews, and I'm very surprised at the publisher including them.) Eventually as the purpose of the book became clear it came into focus for me, and I settled down and started enjoying it. I understood the reason for the vagueness and the soap opera nature of the other characters. The dramatic ending for some of the characters was well done, although the ending for two other important characters is almost ignored by Vickers. Then in the last few pages my view of it changed again. In an effort to tie up all her themes, she made it so obscure - without specialised knowledge - that it was incomprehensible to me. Which meant no emotional or ideological resolution, and a dissatisfied reader. I may try another of her books, but I may not. I recommend Elizabeth Goudge (The Dean's Watch; The Scent of Water) as an author who is better at combining realistic characters, engaging settings, and the deeper inner experiences and meanings of life.
September 15, 2025
This is a very difficult book to review without 'giving it all away'. It is innovative in style and structure and full of meaningful moments. The fine line between reality and fantasy is almost invisible.
Dartmoor, where I spent happy times in my childhood, is drawn beautifully. Great Calne, doesn't really exist but it certainly represents the little hamlets and tiny villages on the Moor, where the local inn is as much a centre of the community as the parish church. Memories can be long, and old enmities can be harboured from generation to generation.
Mr Golightly arrives in his classic car with a fading reputation, classed as little more than a 'writer'. There's humour and tragedy - in equal measure - amidst an engaging cast of relatable characters. In his unobtrusive style Mr Golightly soon finds himself the centre of attention.
Unusual and elegant. Definitely a book to return to for a second reading.
Dartmoor, where I spent happy times in my childhood, is drawn beautifully. Great Calne, doesn't really exist but it certainly represents the little hamlets and tiny villages on the Moor, where the local inn is as much a centre of the community as the parish church. Memories can be long, and old enmities can be harboured from generation to generation.
Mr Golightly arrives in his classic car with a fading reputation, classed as little more than a 'writer'. There's humour and tragedy - in equal measure - amidst an engaging cast of relatable characters. In his unobtrusive style Mr Golightly soon finds himself the centre of attention.
Unusual and elegant. Definitely a book to return to for a second reading.
November 13, 2018
“Mr. Golightly explained he was a Potter fan. “Beatrix rather than Harry - I’m afraid I’ve not got round to him yet. It’s her prose I like - a wonderful cadence, and you can’t help admiring a woman who framed her own sheep.”
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.
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Lyrical with a lightness of touch and moments of humour describes Vicker’s writing for me. She really does understand what makes us humans tick and deals with some rather heavy themes - religion, loss and grief - in an accessible way. Mr. Golightly, a benevolent erudite chap with a liking for coffee, takes himself off to a small Devonshire village to work on his writing and becomes embroiled in the various dramas that unfold about him. The premise is so very, very clever and had me slapping my forehead halfway through as I finally managed to put 2 and 2 together! No spoilers here, but I urge you to read it and let me know if you work it out quicker than me!!!
.
.
.
Lyrical with a lightness of touch and moments of humour describes Vicker’s writing for me. She really does understand what makes us humans tick and deals with some rather heavy themes - religion, loss and grief - in an accessible way. Mr. Golightly, a benevolent erudite chap with a liking for coffee, takes himself off to a small Devonshire village to work on his writing and becomes embroiled in the various dramas that unfold about him. The premise is so very, very clever and had me slapping my forehead halfway through as I finally managed to put 2 and 2 together! No spoilers here, but I urge you to read it and let me know if you work it out quicker than me!!!
August 18, 2021
Very disappointed.Like many I missed the message and clues as to Mr Golightly’s identity. To me it read like a soap opera and the number of characters had me totally confused.SV writes well with some wonderful descriptions of nature but I think she was too arch ,too clever in trying to meld together village life , life’s little dramas and a big theme.If like me you don’t know your Job from your elbow then all that is wasted.Nor is it helped by her use of obscure words or foreign phrases ( usually done to give some gravitas to a work)
If you want to read someone who wears his erudition more lightly then read Alexander Mc Call Smith. Just as profound and thoughtful without the profusion of characters and written with real wit and charm.
Having bought “Instances of” and “ Miss Garnetts…” at the same time in a charity shop I shall now be returning these whence they came.
If you want to read someone who wears his erudition more lightly then read Alexander Mc Call Smith. Just as profound and thoughtful without the profusion of characters and written with real wit and charm.
Having bought “Instances of” and “ Miss Garnetts…” at the same time in a charity shop I shall now be returning these whence they came.
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