Bought in a bargin book shop.

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fiction readers with a sweet tooth and a high tolerance of Anglican whimsy are offered much beguilement in Sally Vickers' new novel Mr Golightly's Holiday. Set in the Devon village of Great Calne, it records the events observed, and in part precipitated, by Mr Golightly, the author of a work once famous but now tending to be overlooked, who has elected to settle himself in this community for a while. Mr Golightly himself, a rumpled, elderly figure arriving in a half-timbered Traveller van, is a familiar enough version of "the male author"; Great Calne, an apparently idyllic village with a wide range of carefully differentiated characters, but underneath seething with unseen discontents and rivalries, is itself another easily summoned trope--the kind of community now perhaps most commonly encountered in fictional terms in TV shows. This is handy, for Mr Golightly decides that the best way of dragging his great work into the limelight of popularity and relevance is to recast it as a soap opera. In the event, he makes little headway with this project because, of course, the affairs of the village become all-absorbing and gradually draw him in. And so things unfold, as the characters carefully established by Sally Vickers work out their destinies in a mixture of social comedy (some of it very sharp), melodrama, nature mysticism and visionary redemption that delivers far more than the opening paragraphs can suggest. Moreover, the precise identity of Mr Golightly, while not exactly part of the plot, is disclosed gradually and may come as a surprise to some.

What a totally amazing book. I am at heart a cynic, and so had I known before starting this what it really was about I would have almost certainly passed it by. There are no words to describe my admiration at what Salley Vickers has achieved with this most unusual book. I envy those who have yet to read it.

I am passing it to my non bcing sister to read. When I get it back I'll probably ring it.


Knitnurse UK
LindyB28 UK
Katisha50 UK
Candy-is-dandy UK
RubyBlueLady -UK
Satnam US - on its way here
esq228 US
bakerwhencan US
Mrs Danvers -UK
Molyneux -UK
Mallory -France


back to me Heaven-Ali - UK

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to Knitnurse

Hope everyone enjoys the book : )

Rec'd today from Heaven-Ali, many thanks. Have started on it already.

Changing journal entry to say I'm posting this to LindyB28 in the next few days. I loved it, but wonder how much I should say without spoiling?

Written like a soap opera, popping in and out of people's lives, wonderfully descriptive and makes you want to go there NOW! Beautiful .. but not surprising. I really like all the stuff at the back of this edition with info 'around' the plot/setting/author/sources. I hadn't realised that this author wrote 'Miss Garnet's Angel' when I started, but I enjoyed that book too. Reading a Philip Pullman review at the front made me realise that despite my being a cynic too, this book would still work for me.

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted this afternoon to LindyB28 :)

Thank you: I'm looking forward to reading this because I loved Miss Garnet's Angel.

Oh golly. Have I really got to send this on!?! I *love* it. So may end up contributing to the "bookcrossers who buy more books" theme because I want to give copies to everyone I know.
It's hard to review it without giving away crucial information which may spoil the book for those who haven't yet read it.
Suffice to say that Vickers tackles enormous themes with a beautiful simplicity and sympathy. It combines the innocence of Mary Hayley Bell's Whistle Down the Wind with contemporary reality and some wonderfully subtle allusions to literary works and biblical characters.
It seems to me that this is a perfect book :-)

Thanks Ali for ringing this. I'll send it on to Katisha50 next. Honest I will. Mr Golightly would be cross if I stole it ;-)

Received from Linda - thanks. Sorry for late JE. Will get to this as soon as I can.

I loved this book, too! I just want to read it again, now that I know the ending, to pick up on everything I missed first time round. I'll also be suggesting it to the church book group (because of the "high tolerance of Anglican whimsy" - although I don't agree with that description myself). Oh, dear - Borders, here I come!

Arrived safe and sound - I look forward to reading it.

Well, what can I say!

It took me much too long to get round to reading this and possibly as it looked to be a bland and rather uninteresting story from the title, cover picture and blurb at the back. I must be a very shallow person to believe something is solely as it looks from the cover. The first chapter or so didn't really change my mind, but as I read on and started falling for the characters I enjoyed it more and more. I'm obviously not into deep analysis of a story so it was only when faced baldly with the truth that 'I GOT IT'. Once I had, I anticipated much of what was later to come, but now I definitely want to read it again, enlightened. I will have to get another copy as RubyBlueLady has been waiting so long and patiently for this one.

Certainly, Heaven-Ali sent!

RELEASE NOTES:

Off to RubyBlueLady

I''ve been looking forward to reading this. Will probably read it in the next few days.

I read this today in the garden. Firstly, I was slightly annoyed by the ending, if I''d known THAT at the beginning I would''ve read the book in a completely different way.

I enjoyed being reminded of the moors as I have been lucky enough to spend lots of time in this area in the past. All the characters in the village made the story for me, especially Johnny and Mrs Thomas.

I, being the philistine I am, was rather bored by the philosophical stuff about life, love, and everything (though I''m happy to read non fiction books on the very same subjects). Fortunately, the story element kept me entertained to the conclusion.

I''m glad I''ve had a chance to read this and will now pass it on by surface mail, to the US.

This book has washed ashore at the Lost Book Island after not being heard from for many months. This new arrival will be shown to a room and be allowed a bit of rest before being introduced to the many fun things to do here at the island.

All around there are books sipping cool drinks under shady palms while other books participate in a wide variety of beach sports. There is plenty of sand, surf and sun here for all of the lost and wayward books to enjoy.

It is hoped that very soon a new journal entry will come to rescue this book from the island and send it back out into the BookCrossing world so that it may continue on its journey. It is hoped that the new journal entry will tell all the interested parties where this book has been this long time and where it will be traveling to next.

I recently found this book in a box of books that was in storage. I'm very sorry for not having journaled it when I received it and for misplacing it for so long! To add to that, I didn't like Mr Golightly's Holiday as much as everyone else did, so I don't want to say much as I've probably already annoyed everyone enough. :-(

Sent Mr Golightly on his way to esq228 today.

Received in the mail. Leaving for vacation tomorrow and glad to have something new to read on the plane! Thanks for sharing!!

Didn't love it as much as everyone else, but I did enjoy the story.

Sent yesterday to the next reader.

Received. Thank you for sending to me!!