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Grandmothers
Grandmothers is the story of three very different women and their relationship with the younger generation: fiercely independent Nan, who leads a secret life as an award-winning poet when she is not teaching her grandson Billy how to lie; glamorous Blanche, deprived of the company of her beloved granddaughter Kitty by her hostile daughter-in-law, who finds solace in rebelliously taking to drink and shop lifting; and shy, bookish Minna who in the safety of shepherd's hut shares with her surrogate granddaughter Rose her passion for reading. The outlook of all three women subtly alters when through their encounters with each other they discover that the past is always with us and that we go on learning and changing until the very end.
297 pages, Paperback
Published October 31, 2019
132 people are currently reading
844 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 215 reviews
October 24, 2020
Charming, poignant and deeply moving. Salley Vicker's new story about 3 grandmothers who are navigating their lives having being pushed to one side and become the underappreciated members of their families will really tug at your heartstrings. Nan is a secret poet, whilst living her best life teaching her grandson to lie to his parents and teachers, Blanche has become an alcoholic with a serious shoplifting problem that is going to get her into trouble, and Minna; well, Minna isn't a grandmother technically, but is so besotted by her surrogate grand-daughter Rose who she met when she set up a book club at her school that she really feels genuine love for her. The idea that they can both sit reading books and be relaxed and comfortable with each other is more than she could ever wish for.
Such wonderful characters, and the ending made me cry. A fantastic topic for a book; grandmothers don't get enough praise :-)
Such wonderful characters, and the ending made me cry. A fantastic topic for a book; grandmothers don't get enough praise :-)
November 8, 2019
The concept of Grandmothers is fabulous - a split narrative which explores three different women in the golden years of their life and their relationships with the younger generation. This is something that Salley Vickers does best - writing character studies and stories which, though not much may happen, still have a lot of heart.
However, despite there being the keen perceptions which I have come to expect from Vickers in these pages, Grandmothers somehow falls flat. There are outstanding moments - meditations on death, legacy, relationships etc. But there are also some flaws which really detract from the novel as a whole.
I think my greatest problem was that some of the plot just seems so far fetched, which is almost heightened by the realism of the characters. There's lots of chance meetings and decisions to shack up together which mingle the three narratives, and some of this felt very forced indeed. These staged scenarios really take away from the plot and it leaves a weird sort of emptiness to the interactions, especially as they seem so against the nature of some of the characters to begin with. I also struggled with the age portrayals of some of the children. There's one bit in particular that mentions the concept of Toy Story being weird at considered new when it was brought out (meaning that the child would have been a child when I was...25ish years ago) but the book is clearly set in modern times. So this time discrepancy doesn't make much sense - unless they mean Toy Story 4, which doesn't seem to be the case. A small nitpick, but one which stood out as a lack of research.
The main grandmother characters were all rather enjoyable though, and it was refreshing to read portrayals who aren't the typical sweet, old, Werther's Original sucking ladies that they tend to be in a lot of books. Here we have glamorous shoplifters, straight talking coffin buyers and a woman who helps to harbour imagination through encouraging a girl (who is not her granddaughter) to play open heartedly with her toys, and all three characters leading the different strands are competently drawn.
Unfortunately, characters aren't enough to support a book where the plot tries to be more interesting than it needs to be, and what could have been a beautifully prosaic, artfully considered novel turns into something slightly underwhelming and which doesn't quite reach its full potential.
However, despite there being the keen perceptions which I have come to expect from Vickers in these pages, Grandmothers somehow falls flat. There are outstanding moments - meditations on death, legacy, relationships etc. But there are also some flaws which really detract from the novel as a whole.
I think my greatest problem was that some of the plot just seems so far fetched, which is almost heightened by the realism of the characters. There's lots of chance meetings and decisions to shack up together which mingle the three narratives, and some of this felt very forced indeed. These staged scenarios really take away from the plot and it leaves a weird sort of emptiness to the interactions, especially as they seem so against the nature of some of the characters to begin with. I also struggled with the age portrayals of some of the children. There's one bit in particular that mentions the concept of Toy Story being weird at considered new when it was brought out (meaning that the child would have been a child when I was...25ish years ago) but the book is clearly set in modern times. So this time discrepancy doesn't make much sense - unless they mean Toy Story 4, which doesn't seem to be the case. A small nitpick, but one which stood out as a lack of research.
The main grandmother characters were all rather enjoyable though, and it was refreshing to read portrayals who aren't the typical sweet, old, Werther's Original sucking ladies that they tend to be in a lot of books. Here we have glamorous shoplifters, straight talking coffin buyers and a woman who helps to harbour imagination through encouraging a girl (who is not her granddaughter) to play open heartedly with her toys, and all three characters leading the different strands are competently drawn.
Unfortunately, characters aren't enough to support a book where the plot tries to be more interesting than it needs to be, and what could have been a beautifully prosaic, artfully considered novel turns into something slightly underwhelming and which doesn't quite reach its full potential.
April 9, 2022
First Vickers I haven't loved.Flat.
February 2, 2020
A really gentle & sweet read based on three sixty something Grandmothers and their relationship with their grandchildren or surrogate grandchildren. I say gentle but Salley Vickers skilfully weaves many thorny life issues in and around the seemingly benign plot. I particularly enjoyed the subtle cold wars going on between the three main characters and their daughter in laws. This is a slightly pacier read then The Librarian & it’s lovely to see older women taking the limelight in a novel for a change. I enjoyed it & will particularly remember the characters of Nan & little Rose xx
December 31, 2019
"Grandmothers" is one of those books that makes me want to shout, "THIS! THIS is what makes reading such a gift." Salley Vickers' writing lit up my imagination, making me feel insightful and connected and sad and refreshed and better equipped to deal with my life as I flew on the borrowed wings of her words.
The book shares moments from the lightly interconnected lives of three grandmothers, initially strangers to each other, as they spend time with their grandchildren and with each other.
Salley Vickers showed a remarkable ability to take me inside the heads of thoroughly imagined women, with very different backgrounds and current circumstances, and keep me interested in each of them. There's none of that "Oh dear, do we HAVE to go back to THIS character now?" that I sometimes get when one character is less interesting than the others.
For once, the publisher's summary describes these three women well:
"fiercely independent Nan, who leads a secret life as an award-winning poet when she is not teaching her grandson Billy how to lie; glamorous Blanche, deprived of the company of her beloved granddaughter Kitty by her hostile daughter-in-law, who finds solace in rebelliously taking to drink and shoplifting; and shy, bookish Minna who in the safety of shepherd's hut shares with her surrogate granddaughter Rose her passion for reading."
There are some big themes here about being a mother and a grandmother, about being old, about being alone and about being aware on a daily basis of one's mortality but the power of the book is that it doesn't start there. It starts with the people. You feel as though the issues arise only because of who the people are rather than that the people have been created to illuminate the issues.
I felt most at home with Nan. I admired the way she confronted the world rather than hiding from it. I was pleased by the realistic way in which Nan's introversion and natural inclination for solitude were described as a facet of her personality and not as an issue to be managed. The quietly comfortable image of Nan's made-to-measure wicker coffin, standing in her living room, doing service as a bookshelf until she needs to use it, captured a lot of how I feel about death.
This is a book full of strong emotions and scenes that feel as strong as my own memories. It's also a book that gave me two new (to me) tools for understanding what is going on around me.
The first is the metaphor of "The Leper's Squint" as a means of grappling with the diversity of way in which we experience life. I've put a slightly longer than usual quotation in here because I think it demonstrates the style of the book as well as articulating the concept. Nan and her grandson, Billy, have been at the seaside. While Billy was digging in the sand, Nan used a phrase from my childhood, "If you keep digging like that, you'll reach Australia." Billy, who is clever and curious but has a tendency to be literal, finds this statement to be absurd. Nan comes back to it when the two of them are having fish and chips a little later.
One of the truths Nan had divined early is that it is the hardest thing in the world to grasp that other people see life from a perspective often quite unlike one's own. "The trouble is, we all see through our own Leper's Squint", she had once said to her husband, who had confirmed the point by asking what on earth she was on about. She tried out the same idea on their grandson.
"What's a Leper's Squint?" he asked, as she had hoped he might.
"You know about leprosy?"
"When bits of you drops off?"
"Well not as bad a that but horribly certainly. In the days when leprosy was common and people were afraid it was catching, there were tiny windows made in churches so the lepers could see into the church while the Mass was being said. Mass is a name for a church service." she added hastily.
"Why did they want to?"
"Why did the lepers want to see into the church?"
"Yes. What did they want to do that for?"
"In those days, most people believed in God."
Billy dipped a chip into some tomato ketchup while he pondered this.
"Why?" he asked again.
"That's what I was trying to explain. It was normal then to believe in God and not being allowed to mingle with the other people in the church, they saw as a terrible consequence of the illness. Nowadays, it's more normal not to believe. They, the lepers and the other folk would have found it weird, as you would say, not to believe in God, while I think you find it weird that they did."
Though of this, she wasn't sure. Billy sometimes interrogated her views on religious questions and she welcomed that. She was open to doubt herself. She continued on more substantial ground.
"You see, pet, in your way of thinking, it's ridiculous to suppose that by digging a hole you could reach Australia, but in my world, I like to imagine that I could."
"Even if you knew that you really couldn't?"
"Yes," Nan said.
Aside from loving him, this was what she liked best about her grandson. He was willing to explore things.
"Even though, with another part of my mind, I knew quite well that I couldn't".
I will tuck this metaphor away and challenge myself to look through other people's Leper's Squints from time to time and to be aware of the limited view from my own.
The second new-to-me concept, also introduced by Nan, was interanimation. I had to look it up. Now I have a word for it, I'm seeing it everywhere and I realise that it's one of the few things that gets stronger as I get older. Here's how the concept is explained. Nan wakes in the night in a holiday cottage and looks out the window:
Moonlight was silver-plating the grass. A full moon, vast and auspicious-seeming, was hanging like a child's lost balloon in a darkly violet sky. She'd stolen that image from someone. Who the hell was it?
That was one of the snags of age. that who you were and what you'd been and what you'd done, read or been told had become so interanimate that there was no telling any more what was what.
Interanimate. There, a case in point. But what does it matter, Nan thought, as she trod wearily of hidden perils, malicious stair-rods for example, down dusty stairs to a kitchen with a And who would care anyway?"
"Grandmothers" is a beautiful example of perfectly executed, authentic, insightful and compassionate interanimation.
My enjoyment of the book was greatly increased by Barbara Flynn's narration. If you have the opportunity, I strongly recommend listening to the audiobook version of "Grandmothers".
The book shares moments from the lightly interconnected lives of three grandmothers, initially strangers to each other, as they spend time with their grandchildren and with each other.
Salley Vickers showed a remarkable ability to take me inside the heads of thoroughly imagined women, with very different backgrounds and current circumstances, and keep me interested in each of them. There's none of that "Oh dear, do we HAVE to go back to THIS character now?" that I sometimes get when one character is less interesting than the others.
For once, the publisher's summary describes these three women well:
"fiercely independent Nan, who leads a secret life as an award-winning poet when she is not teaching her grandson Billy how to lie; glamorous Blanche, deprived of the company of her beloved granddaughter Kitty by her hostile daughter-in-law, who finds solace in rebelliously taking to drink and shoplifting; and shy, bookish Minna who in the safety of shepherd's hut shares with her surrogate granddaughter Rose her passion for reading."
There are some big themes here about being a mother and a grandmother, about being old, about being alone and about being aware on a daily basis of one's mortality but the power of the book is that it doesn't start there. It starts with the people. You feel as though the issues arise only because of who the people are rather than that the people have been created to illuminate the issues.
I felt most at home with Nan. I admired the way she confronted the world rather than hiding from it. I was pleased by the realistic way in which Nan's introversion and natural inclination for solitude were described as a facet of her personality and not as an issue to be managed. The quietly comfortable image of Nan's made-to-measure wicker coffin, standing in her living room, doing service as a bookshelf until she needs to use it, captured a lot of how I feel about death.
This is a book full of strong emotions and scenes that feel as strong as my own memories. It's also a book that gave me two new (to me) tools for understanding what is going on around me.
The first is the metaphor of "The Leper's Squint" as a means of grappling with the diversity of way in which we experience life. I've put a slightly longer than usual quotation in here because I think it demonstrates the style of the book as well as articulating the concept. Nan and her grandson, Billy, have been at the seaside. While Billy was digging in the sand, Nan used a phrase from my childhood, "If you keep digging like that, you'll reach Australia." Billy, who is clever and curious but has a tendency to be literal, finds this statement to be absurd. Nan comes back to it when the two of them are having fish and chips a little later.
One of the truths Nan had divined early is that it is the hardest thing in the world to grasp that other people see life from a perspective often quite unlike one's own. "The trouble is, we all see through our own Leper's Squint", she had once said to her husband, who had confirmed the point by asking what on earth she was on about. She tried out the same idea on their grandson.
"What's a Leper's Squint?" he asked, as she had hoped he might.
"You know about leprosy?"
"When bits of you drops off?"
"Well not as bad a that but horribly certainly. In the days when leprosy was common and people were afraid it was catching, there were tiny windows made in churches so the lepers could see into the church while the Mass was being said. Mass is a name for a church service." she added hastily.
"Why did they want to?"
"Why did the lepers want to see into the church?"
"Yes. What did they want to do that for?"
"In those days, most people believed in God."
Billy dipped a chip into some tomato ketchup while he pondered this.
"Why?" he asked again.
"That's what I was trying to explain. It was normal then to believe in God and not being allowed to mingle with the other people in the church, they saw as a terrible consequence of the illness. Nowadays, it's more normal not to believe. They, the lepers and the other folk would have found it weird, as you would say, not to believe in God, while I think you find it weird that they did."
Though of this, she wasn't sure. Billy sometimes interrogated her views on religious questions and she welcomed that. She was open to doubt herself. She continued on more substantial ground.
"You see, pet, in your way of thinking, it's ridiculous to suppose that by digging a hole you could reach Australia, but in my world, I like to imagine that I could."
"Even if you knew that you really couldn't?"
"Yes," Nan said.
Aside from loving him, this was what she liked best about her grandson. He was willing to explore things.
"Even though, with another part of my mind, I knew quite well that I couldn't".
I will tuck this metaphor away and challenge myself to look through other people's Leper's Squints from time to time and to be aware of the limited view from my own.
The second new-to-me concept, also introduced by Nan, was interanimation. I had to look it up. Now I have a word for it, I'm seeing it everywhere and I realise that it's one of the few things that gets stronger as I get older. Here's how the concept is explained. Nan wakes in the night in a holiday cottage and looks out the window:
Moonlight was silver-plating the grass. A full moon, vast and auspicious-seeming, was hanging like a child's lost balloon in a darkly violet sky. She'd stolen that image from someone. Who the hell was it?
That was one of the snags of age. that who you were and what you'd been and what you'd done, read or been told had become so interanimate that there was no telling any more what was what.
Interanimate. There, a case in point. But what does it matter, Nan thought, as she trod wearily of hidden perils, malicious stair-rods for example, down dusty stairs to a kitchen with a And who would care anyway?"
"Grandmothers" is a beautiful example of perfectly executed, authentic, insightful and compassionate interanimation.
My enjoyment of the book was greatly increased by Barbara Flynn's narration. If you have the opportunity, I strongly recommend listening to the audiobook version of "Grandmothers".
November 8, 2019
I enjoyed Grandmothers, but I did have reservations.
Salley Vickers tells the story of three quite different characters who are grandmothers (strictly, two are grandmothers and one is a good friend who fulfils the role) who don’t know each other at the beginning of the book. They each have a close relationship with and often take care of one grandchild, and their stories develop over one year, during which they overlap and interact. Vickers uses this structure to explore those relationships, to examine their effect on and importance to both the grandmothers and the children and to give her views on a variety of topics, some neatly, some rather clumsily.
Vickers, as always, paints intimate and compassionate portraits of her subjects, both adult and child. They are strong, thoughtful and insightful pictures by and large. (The men are peripheral and largely act as cyphers for male failings, but this is a book about the women and the children they relate to and the focus is rightly on them). She writes very well, of course, and I found the book an easy and quite involving read much of the time, but there was a lot of familiar ground: slightly lost women finding fulfilment and new delight in life, the significance of art, especially religious art and angels, the importance of great religious buildings and so on don’t have quite the freshness and emotional impact they did when I first read Miss Garnet’s Angel and The Cleaner of Chartres, for example. There is quite a lot of quotation and cultural reference which I felt verged on showing off, and I found the ending, which is intended to be moving, rather sentimental and twee. Vickers also goes a bit over the top in her prose occasionally. For example, a character is reminiscing while boarding a train:
“Her mind arabesqued – as she begged the man whose aisle seat was next to the window seat that her ticket proclaimed hers to excuse her – to how they had dined...” That’s a bit rich for me, and although it only happened a few times, I think Salley Vickers is better than that.
Overall, this is a recommendable read, but in spite of some very good things about it, I don’t think it’s one of Salley Vickers’ best. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
(My thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley.)
Salley Vickers tells the story of three quite different characters who are grandmothers (strictly, two are grandmothers and one is a good friend who fulfils the role) who don’t know each other at the beginning of the book. They each have a close relationship with and often take care of one grandchild, and their stories develop over one year, during which they overlap and interact. Vickers uses this structure to explore those relationships, to examine their effect on and importance to both the grandmothers and the children and to give her views on a variety of topics, some neatly, some rather clumsily.
Vickers, as always, paints intimate and compassionate portraits of her subjects, both adult and child. They are strong, thoughtful and insightful pictures by and large. (The men are peripheral and largely act as cyphers for male failings, but this is a book about the women and the children they relate to and the focus is rightly on them). She writes very well, of course, and I found the book an easy and quite involving read much of the time, but there was a lot of familiar ground: slightly lost women finding fulfilment and new delight in life, the significance of art, especially religious art and angels, the importance of great religious buildings and so on don’t have quite the freshness and emotional impact they did when I first read Miss Garnet’s Angel and The Cleaner of Chartres, for example. There is quite a lot of quotation and cultural reference which I felt verged on showing off, and I found the ending, which is intended to be moving, rather sentimental and twee. Vickers also goes a bit over the top in her prose occasionally. For example, a character is reminiscing while boarding a train:
“Her mind arabesqued – as she begged the man whose aisle seat was next to the window seat that her ticket proclaimed hers to excuse her – to how they had dined...” That’s a bit rich for me, and although it only happened a few times, I think Salley Vickers is better than that.
Overall, this is a recommendable read, but in spite of some very good things about it, I don’t think it’s one of Salley Vickers’ best. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
(My thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley.)
January 1, 2020
From BBC Radio 4:
Three very different women’s lives collide in Salley Vickers’ tender new novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
Reader: Eleanor Bron
Abridger: Salley Vickers
Producer: Kirsty Williams
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...
Three very different women’s lives collide in Salley Vickers’ tender new novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
Reader: Eleanor Bron
Abridger: Salley Vickers
Producer: Kirsty Williams
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...
June 19, 2020
A sweet non-taxing story..pleasant enough.. made me remember my beautiful grandmothers and great grandmother.. I was lucky enough to have all three until my early 30’s
March 12, 2020
A light and enjoyable read. Three grandmothers, three children, their stories gradually draw together after some ups and downs. Set in modern day UK with plenty of modern day problems to explore. I liked it although the writing is sometimes almost breathless, given the multiple commas per line. At the same time it’s colourful and imaginative, so mustn’t grump too much.
December 18, 2020
Pretty mild story about three older women and the children in their lives. None of them actually examine why they’re annoying the shit out of their family members or take accountability for their manipulations - though this is exactly what my grandmother was like so fair play. I found that they all blurred into each other.
April 12, 2020
An absolute beauty of a book that has had me laughing out loud and sobbing hysterically. The writing is completely exquisite; the picture-painting incredibly moving. A wonderful celebration of the grace and goodness of the older generation, and their ever-relevance in modern society.
December 7, 2019
What a moving, thoughtful gem of a book. It says a lot about grandmothers and parents and upbringing as a whole and how love is important. Brilliant.
October 28, 2022
I thought this book contained some moments of truth but for me it was too sentimental. Why were all the grandmothers so good and the parents so bad?
November 7, 2019
“to draw or paint or write words or music of any quality you must preserve a child’s vision, even through that valley of death which is the incremental death of innocence. For wasn’t the progress into adulthood, her mind ran on, itself a kind of death, if a death was necessary for the birth of new life and new possibilities? But a death that at another level must be resisted so that....a kind of sacred space could be preserved.”
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Having just finished a book about three women in their twenties to thirties, Expectation by Anna Hope, I moved on to a book where the protagonists are three women at a much later stage of their lives. In Grandmothers, Salley Vickers intertwines the stories of Nan, Blanche and Minna. The indomitable Nan is trying to teach her grandson Billy that death is an inevitable part of life as they continue their hunt for the perfect coffin. Blanche has been denied access to her darling granddaughter Kitty because of a misdemeanour, but is still expected to pay for Kitty’s school fees. Gentle Minna has been adopted by Rosie as a surrogate grandmother and their relationship is threatened by Rosie’s imminent move to another city with her family. I enjoyed this gentle novel for its portrayal of the challenges faced by older women who are perhaps underrepresented in literature. It examines who confers the role of grandmother and the importance of that role within families both financially and in terms of teaching and caregiving. Salley Vickers’ writing is always a joy and her own love of reading is evident in Grandmothers and also her other recent novel, The Librarian. Mr. Golightly’s Holiday remains my favourite of her books so far, but Nan has claimed a special spot in my heart ❤️
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Having just finished a book about three women in their twenties to thirties, Expectation by Anna Hope, I moved on to a book where the protagonists are three women at a much later stage of their lives. In Grandmothers, Salley Vickers intertwines the stories of Nan, Blanche and Minna. The indomitable Nan is trying to teach her grandson Billy that death is an inevitable part of life as they continue their hunt for the perfect coffin. Blanche has been denied access to her darling granddaughter Kitty because of a misdemeanour, but is still expected to pay for Kitty’s school fees. Gentle Minna has been adopted by Rosie as a surrogate grandmother and their relationship is threatened by Rosie’s imminent move to another city with her family. I enjoyed this gentle novel for its portrayal of the challenges faced by older women who are perhaps underrepresented in literature. It examines who confers the role of grandmother and the importance of that role within families both financially and in terms of teaching and caregiving. Salley Vickers’ writing is always a joy and her own love of reading is evident in Grandmothers and also her other recent novel, The Librarian. Mr. Golightly’s Holiday remains my favourite of her books so far, but Nan has claimed a special spot in my heart ❤️
April 7, 2022
I will start by saying 'Grandmothers' isn't the typical sort of book that I would chose to read. This was chosen by a book club that I am in. However, I read the synopsis and I was intrigued by it. It is a very well written book with vivid descriptions that really put you in the story. I found it to be a very easy and light read which can be picked up by the beach or in front of the fire. The story flowed nicely and was filled with family, friendship, regret, sadness, laughter and love. It is a sweet storyline about 3 women and their grandchildren/surrogate granddaughter. I loved meeting each of the characters and became completely invested in the storyline. Out of the three women I must admit my favourite has to me Minna who was a bookworm and reminded me of myself. However, I also liked Blanche and really felt for her at times and although I thought Nan was a bit "blunt" for want of a better word I found her the most intriguing of the 3 grandmothers. Their love for the children in their life absolutely shone through the pages. I was completely absorbed in the storyline and thoroughly enjoyed the trips to Weymouth, where I was on holiday myself last September, London, Paris and many more places. A lovely read which I would definitely recommend.
October 17, 2022
This is another little gem from the pen of SV. I am fast becoming a convert to her writing. Such a lightness of touch to some very moving stories lead to a really deft playing with the reader's emotions and sensabilities. That sounds so pretenious. What I mean is - SV presents a beautifully observed story then plays not just our heart springs but our minds, our opinions like a concert pianist or violinist to make us not just feel but think about what has been presented to us. SV doesn't tell us what to think or feel. That is up to us.
Toast
Toast
July 16, 2020
Such a heartwarming book to read ufff
August 21, 2019
I have enjoyed some of Salley Vickers’ novels and I very much wanted to enjoy this one. A great idea to write about grandmothers in an age when the old are often seen as little more than a nuisance, not that the three women featured are particularly ancient.
Salley Vickers is always very good at portraying the thoughts and feelings of the marginalised. Three grandmother figures are at the centre of this story. Eccentric Nan looks after Billy; he is privy to her quest to find the perfect coffin but doesn’t know that she’s a much-admired poet. Minna is a quasi-grandmother; she often entertains Rose with make-believe games in her shepherd’s hut, and is sad that Rose’s parents are thinking of a move to Scotland. Blanche is a little more worldly. After drinking too much, she has been forbidden to see her beloved Kitty by her daughter in law. As the stories slowly weave together, eventually all three women and their charges meet up at Kew Gardens.
Whilst this is not a plot driven tale, that is not the issue. To my mind, despite their various troubles, the characters, young and old, appear just a little out of touch with real life. There’s an air of quaintness throughout that detracts from some of the serious issues explored. And the ending seems self-indulgent. Without introducing any spoilers, it feels more like the sort of conclusion that Kitty or Rose might write rather than an author of Vickers’ talent and experience.
As ever, Salley Vickers writes beautifully. Details of surroundings are crafted as carefully as those of her characters. However, ‘Grandmothers’ seems like a lost opportunity to look at intergenerational family relationships in more detail. Is the role of a son’s mother different from a daughter’s mother? Why do antipathies build? How best to build on love and respect?
My thanks to NetGalley and Viking, Penguin Books (UK) for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.
Salley Vickers is always very good at portraying the thoughts and feelings of the marginalised. Three grandmother figures are at the centre of this story. Eccentric Nan looks after Billy; he is privy to her quest to find the perfect coffin but doesn’t know that she’s a much-admired poet. Minna is a quasi-grandmother; she often entertains Rose with make-believe games in her shepherd’s hut, and is sad that Rose’s parents are thinking of a move to Scotland. Blanche is a little more worldly. After drinking too much, she has been forbidden to see her beloved Kitty by her daughter in law. As the stories slowly weave together, eventually all three women and their charges meet up at Kew Gardens.
Whilst this is not a plot driven tale, that is not the issue. To my mind, despite their various troubles, the characters, young and old, appear just a little out of touch with real life. There’s an air of quaintness throughout that detracts from some of the serious issues explored. And the ending seems self-indulgent. Without introducing any spoilers, it feels more like the sort of conclusion that Kitty or Rose might write rather than an author of Vickers’ talent and experience.
As ever, Salley Vickers writes beautifully. Details of surroundings are crafted as carefully as those of her characters. However, ‘Grandmothers’ seems like a lost opportunity to look at intergenerational family relationships in more detail. Is the role of a son’s mother different from a daughter’s mother? Why do antipathies build? How best to build on love and respect?
My thanks to NetGalley and Viking, Penguin Books (UK) for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.
January 21, 2022
This is a really mixed one for me. I really liked the idea, the tale of three women who have a role in one form or another as Grandmothers for various children. The character development was interesting and each three felt very individual. I did feel however that the book was let down quite a bit by the plot, it just really didn’t work. At times it felt there was no plot and then something would happen but only last a few pages, it felt quite a mismatch. That being said there were some brilliant stand out lines in the writing itself that really redeemed the book. Overall though I’m just quite unsure with this one…
November 6, 2019
I always look forward to a new novel by Sally Vickers and ‘Grandmothers’ doesn’t disappoint.
In my opinion, this novel is a celebration of love and how we often underestimate the strength and value of grandmotherly love. The author conveys this message so beautifully in the guise of Nan, Minna and Blanche. All three are delightful characters in their own way. Nan is quirky, organised,astute and acerbic, enlisting grandson Billy in her quest to find the perfect coffin, for when her time comes. Minna isn’t actually Rose’s grandmother but has befriended the girl through their shared love of reading. Blanche is the glamorous granny, loves art and has recently taken to a spot of shoplifting in response to her son’s decision to ban her from seeing the grandchildren (she drinks too much). These womens antics are at times hilarious but their interactions with the youngsters are heartwarming and prove how both generations have much to learn from one another. They provide wisdom, education, love,support, guidance and fun when Billy and Rose and Kitty’s parents are preoccupied with other events;in short their unconditional love is priceless and we would all be wise to recognise the way they enrich the lives of these children.
This is such a delightful novel to read, with a gentle almost old fashioned feel. When these three women’s lives overlap (Nan catches Blanche shoplifting and Nan and Minna meet on a holiday in Weymouth) they form friendships because of their common bond;their love for their grandchildren. The author’s description of the holiday in Weymouth makes it sound idyllic,almost reminiscent of a bygone era, creating precious memories for both Billy and Rose. I don’t think any of the parents are painted in a particularly good light and the men in the background most certainly aren’t but maybe that’s another way the author can showcase these wonderful women.
Brilliant storytelling with love at its heart, all the characters so engaging that I raced through to the end. Highly recommend.
Thanks as always to the author and publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.
In my opinion, this novel is a celebration of love and how we often underestimate the strength and value of grandmotherly love. The author conveys this message so beautifully in the guise of Nan, Minna and Blanche. All three are delightful characters in their own way. Nan is quirky, organised,astute and acerbic, enlisting grandson Billy in her quest to find the perfect coffin, for when her time comes. Minna isn’t actually Rose’s grandmother but has befriended the girl through their shared love of reading. Blanche is the glamorous granny, loves art and has recently taken to a spot of shoplifting in response to her son’s decision to ban her from seeing the grandchildren (she drinks too much). These womens antics are at times hilarious but their interactions with the youngsters are heartwarming and prove how both generations have much to learn from one another. They provide wisdom, education, love,support, guidance and fun when Billy and Rose and Kitty’s parents are preoccupied with other events;in short their unconditional love is priceless and we would all be wise to recognise the way they enrich the lives of these children.
This is such a delightful novel to read, with a gentle almost old fashioned feel. When these three women’s lives overlap (Nan catches Blanche shoplifting and Nan and Minna meet on a holiday in Weymouth) they form friendships because of their common bond;their love for their grandchildren. The author’s description of the holiday in Weymouth makes it sound idyllic,almost reminiscent of a bygone era, creating precious memories for both Billy and Rose. I don’t think any of the parents are painted in a particularly good light and the men in the background most certainly aren’t but maybe that’s another way the author can showcase these wonderful women.
Brilliant storytelling with love at its heart, all the characters so engaging that I raced through to the end. Highly recommend.
Thanks as always to the author and publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.
November 24, 2019
Grandmothers is the story of three very different women and their relationships with the younger generation.
Nan is a well respected poet but writes under a pen name so no one knows her true identity. She has a brilliant relationship with her cheeky grandson Billy. They like to visit Kew Gardens together and she gives him great advice. Nan is quite keen to get things in order, he even helps her choose her coffin!
Glamorous Blanche is the grandmother of Kitty and Harry and as the story opens her son and daughter in law have forbidden her to see them as it came to light she had a glass of wine while looking after them. She is absolutely heart-broken and starts to self destruct, drinking heavily and shoplifting.
Minna is a retired teaching assistant who has a wonderful relationship with one of her ex-pupils Rose, and has become a surrogate grandmother. Rose loves to visit Minna in her shepherds hut, where they play with toys together and share their love of books.
I adored The Librarian at the beginning of this year and was very excited to read this and it didn’t disappoint. For one thing it really made me think about the role of grandparents in our lives. It took me back to when I was a child and I would visit my grandparents and help in the garden, play with my granddad’s train set or stick in stamps together!
This book covers a year in the life of these women. All three dote on their grandchildren and are all very different. Their paths overlap: Nan and Blanche meet when Nan spots her shoplifting and takes her for a cup of tea and Nan and Minna meet on a holiday in Weymouth when Billy and Rose also become friends. The relationships with their grandchildren was just wonderful – all different but all an equally important part of their lives. I found the children of Nan and Blanche didn’t come across at all well at all, often taking advantage of them. Blanche’s daughter in law was particularly awful – banning her from seeing her grandchildren but then demanding money from Blanche for school fees!
There is humour in Vickers’s writing: I especially liked the thought of Billy sitting in Nan’s coffin to watch TV! Grandmothers is a fantastic character study, unusually looking at the older generation who aren’t generally represented in literature. Vickers really gives life to her characters. I found this charming novel hugely enjoyable.
And if you are shallow like me, it is worth noting that the hardback edition is stunning with beautiful end papers and even a little ribbon bookmark! I have a paperback copy of The Librarian but will be upgrading to the hardback edition soon!
Nan is a well respected poet but writes under a pen name so no one knows her true identity. She has a brilliant relationship with her cheeky grandson Billy. They like to visit Kew Gardens together and she gives him great advice. Nan is quite keen to get things in order, he even helps her choose her coffin!
Glamorous Blanche is the grandmother of Kitty and Harry and as the story opens her son and daughter in law have forbidden her to see them as it came to light she had a glass of wine while looking after them. She is absolutely heart-broken and starts to self destruct, drinking heavily and shoplifting.
Minna is a retired teaching assistant who has a wonderful relationship with one of her ex-pupils Rose, and has become a surrogate grandmother. Rose loves to visit Minna in her shepherds hut, where they play with toys together and share their love of books.
I adored The Librarian at the beginning of this year and was very excited to read this and it didn’t disappoint. For one thing it really made me think about the role of grandparents in our lives. It took me back to when I was a child and I would visit my grandparents and help in the garden, play with my granddad’s train set or stick in stamps together!
This book covers a year in the life of these women. All three dote on their grandchildren and are all very different. Their paths overlap: Nan and Blanche meet when Nan spots her shoplifting and takes her for a cup of tea and Nan and Minna meet on a holiday in Weymouth when Billy and Rose also become friends. The relationships with their grandchildren was just wonderful – all different but all an equally important part of their lives. I found the children of Nan and Blanche didn’t come across at all well at all, often taking advantage of them. Blanche’s daughter in law was particularly awful – banning her from seeing her grandchildren but then demanding money from Blanche for school fees!
There is humour in Vickers’s writing: I especially liked the thought of Billy sitting in Nan’s coffin to watch TV! Grandmothers is a fantastic character study, unusually looking at the older generation who aren’t generally represented in literature. Vickers really gives life to her characters. I found this charming novel hugely enjoyable.
And if you are shallow like me, it is worth noting that the hardback edition is stunning with beautiful end papers and even a little ribbon bookmark! I have a paperback copy of The Librarian but will be upgrading to the hardback edition soon!
May 17, 2020
Well this wouldn't be my usual read, character driven and quiet, but the author writes this in such a way that it had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion. Once so loudly my husband actually checked to see if I was ok.
We follow 2 grandmothers and a kind of surrogate grandmother through their day to day lives, how they interact with their grandchildren/children and at certain points how they interact with each other.
Each of the main characters was so different and listening to the audio brought them all to life so vividly for me.
Nan may slightly be my favourite, with her take no prisoners attitude, but Blanche with her shoplifting and Minna with her apologetic stance were both fabulous too.
A joy to read/listen to (as I did both for this book). Definitely recommend even if you don't normally read this type of book.
We follow 2 grandmothers and a kind of surrogate grandmother through their day to day lives, how they interact with their grandchildren/children and at certain points how they interact with each other.
Each of the main characters was so different and listening to the audio brought them all to life so vividly for me.
Nan may slightly be my favourite, with her take no prisoners attitude, but Blanche with her shoplifting and Minna with her apologetic stance were both fabulous too.
A joy to read/listen to (as I did both for this book). Definitely recommend even if you don't normally read this type of book.
June 19, 2021
“His mother, terrorised by any threat to her vision of life”… - and there you have one of the painful essences of being a parent.
Makes you want to progress to being a grandmother!
As always with Salley Vickers, quiet and subtle, there are beautiful thoughts and lovely (if demanding) sentences sprinkled troughout, to enjoy quite independently of the plot. I also learned some new words (again).
So why is it that apparently we go through most of life oblivious to the rich worlds of children and old ladies?
Makes you want to progress to being a grandmother!
As always with Salley Vickers, quiet and subtle, there are beautiful thoughts and lovely (if demanding) sentences sprinkled troughout, to enjoy quite independently of the plot. I also learned some new words (again).
So why is it that apparently we go through most of life oblivious to the rich worlds of children and old ladies?
November 3, 2019
This book is the story of three women who are grandmothers or look after children and how the relationship with them and their children affects their life. The three women are very different and had led different lives, however they meet and create a bond.
I find the story interesting, because it explores an age that it is rarely found in books, but it is such a big part of our life. The three women have had (or not) a career, a family, a partner, and now need to find themselves again, to feel they are still individuals with their own interests and skill set, Sort of a second coming of age story.
The style is smooth, kept me interested. The characters are well described although I noticed there isn't almost any mention of health issues they might have, which makes it less realistic and misses the point a bit.
Overall a good book, well written, based on a good idea that couldn't have been explored more deeply.
I find the story interesting, because it explores an age that it is rarely found in books, but it is such a big part of our life. The three women have had (or not) a career, a family, a partner, and now need to find themselves again, to feel they are still individuals with their own interests and skill set, Sort of a second coming of age story.
The style is smooth, kept me interested. The characters are well described although I noticed there isn't almost any mention of health issues they might have, which makes it less realistic and misses the point a bit.
Overall a good book, well written, based on a good idea that couldn't have been explored more deeply.
October 22, 2019
Salley Vickers is one of my ' must read' authors so I was very pleased to be able to read an ARC of this novel. As with past books, she did not disappoint with this heart-warming tale. Essentially this is a tale of three older women, two of whom are grandmothers and a woman who is a grandmother in all but name to a neighbour's daughter.
These women are all involved in nurturing their young relatives/friends and in navigating tricky relationships with their families; they are also coping with bittersweet memories of past marriages and old lovers. In the course of the story we learn how the older generation is often far more sensible in the ways they deal with children and young people, giving them the freedom to explore their feelings about life's most difficult questions - friendships, family life, disappointment in parents, love and death. And yet all three women are flawed in some way and they have to wrestle with the outcomes of pivotal moments and decisions in their lives. Their stories gradually intertwine and they help each other to resolve problems, family tensions and disappointments and then to work towards a happier future.
As is often the case with this author, there is an element of art history involved in the story which I always find pleasing and enlightening. This time, the artists involved are Delacroix and Leonardo da Vinci.
I really loved the book and would love to have given it five stars; but the ending seemed a little rushed and maybe even a little unrealistic, which was disappointing. But I would still wholeheartedly recommend it. It would be a great novel for a book club.
Thanks to netGalley and to Penguin Books UK/ Viking Books for the chance to read this lovely book.
These women are all involved in nurturing their young relatives/friends and in navigating tricky relationships with their families; they are also coping with bittersweet memories of past marriages and old lovers. In the course of the story we learn how the older generation is often far more sensible in the ways they deal with children and young people, giving them the freedom to explore their feelings about life's most difficult questions - friendships, family life, disappointment in parents, love and death. And yet all three women are flawed in some way and they have to wrestle with the outcomes of pivotal moments and decisions in their lives. Their stories gradually intertwine and they help each other to resolve problems, family tensions and disappointments and then to work towards a happier future.
As is often the case with this author, there is an element of art history involved in the story which I always find pleasing and enlightening. This time, the artists involved are Delacroix and Leonardo da Vinci.
I really loved the book and would love to have given it five stars; but the ending seemed a little rushed and maybe even a little unrealistic, which was disappointing. But I would still wholeheartedly recommend it. It would be a great novel for a book club.
Thanks to netGalley and to Penguin Books UK/ Viking Books for the chance to read this lovely book.
March 23, 2020
A very gentle read. I liked the literary references and also the settings in various places.
May 30, 2021
*4.5
THIS WAS SO LOVELY 🥺🥺🥺 ELDERLY LADY MEDIA, I EAT IT UP !!!
THIS WAS SO LOVELY 🥺🥺🥺 ELDERLY LADY MEDIA, I EAT IT UP !!!
October 17, 2019
This story charts the coming together of three older women and their relationships with their grandchildren. All three are very different with differing challenges in their current lives and different pasts to contemplate but their meetings bring changes for them all.
Beautifully written, sensitive without being mawkish or over indulgent, this is another novel by Salley Vickers in which her ability to articulate the inner workings of the minds of a range of characters shines out. Just as I wanted to be in Venice when reading Miss Garnet’s Angel, this book made me long to be in Minna’s shepherd’s hut or Nan’s London flat.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
Beautifully written, sensitive without being mawkish or over indulgent, this is another novel by Salley Vickers in which her ability to articulate the inner workings of the minds of a range of characters shines out. Just as I wanted to be in Venice when reading Miss Garnet’s Angel, this book made me long to be in Minna’s shepherd’s hut or Nan’s London flat.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
April 13, 2021
Dull and uninspired writing
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