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ThePalace of Strange Girls by Day, Sallie ( Author ) ON May-06-2008, Hardback
The Singleton family is on holiday. For seven-year-old Beth, just out of hospital, this means struggling to fill in her 'I-Spy' book and avoiding her mother Ruth's eagle-eyed supervision. Her 16-year-old sister Helen, meanwhile, has befriended a waitress whose fun-loving ways hint at a life beyond Ruth's strict rules.
353 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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181 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
May 2, 2021
The Palace of Strange Girls tells the tale of a seemingly typical nuclear family on holiday in Blackpool in the late 1950s. Every one of them is unhappy with their lot in some way or another - youngest daughter Beth is recovering from heart surgery and as a consequence has to live under her mother's smothering scrutiny, Helen is 16 years old and increasingly frustrated that she is never allowed to socialise like other girls her age, Jack is torn between jobs and torn up about something from his past, and Ruth is a strict matriarch who constantly believes she is doing the best for her family but actually ends up being an arsehole to everyone most of the time.
In a word - mediocre. The story is entertaining enough, and particularly picks up the pace in the second half, but the characters are grating and two-dimensional. I think this is supposed to be a "life lessons" sort of book but the problem is despite some fairly dramatic experiences nobody really learns anything. Even knowing it is set in the 1950s, the overt misogyny was intensely jarring, not just in the way that you'd expect, but unnecessarily so in the way some characters were treated. Also could not get over how much I hated Ruth - couldn't tell whether the author was trying to instil sympathy for her at some points - there was a somewhat lacklustre flashback which attempted to explain her rigid, judgemental, optics-obsessed outlook on life but it did nothing to allay my disdain for how she appallingly she treated literally EVERYONE else in the book.
This passed the time but did not do much else for me. Not one I'll be recommending.
In a word - mediocre. The story is entertaining enough, and particularly picks up the pace in the second half, but the characters are grating and two-dimensional. I think this is supposed to be a "life lessons" sort of book but the problem is despite some fairly dramatic experiences nobody really learns anything. Even knowing it is set in the 1950s, the overt misogyny was intensely jarring, not just in the way that you'd expect, but unnecessarily so in the way some characters were treated. Also could not get over how much I hated Ruth - couldn't tell whether the author was trying to instil sympathy for her at some points - there was a somewhat lacklustre flashback which attempted to explain her rigid, judgemental, optics-obsessed outlook on life but it did nothing to allay my disdain for how she appallingly she treated literally EVERYONE else in the book.
This passed the time but did not do much else for me. Not one I'll be recommending.
March 23, 2012
I was a bit disappointed with the style of writing of this book. I loved the era and setting of the late 50s in a seaside holiday resort and liked how each chapter began with a paragraph from an Eye spy at the seaside book which brought back a lot of memories of my own childhood just a few years after this book was set, it was really well researched and descriptive, very evocative of the years of austerity and change in the 1950s and brought it home how much things have changed in such a short time span but I found the characters pretty one dimensional; found it really hard to relate to or warm to most of them.
Considering it was set in a holiday resort and from the picture on the front I expected a light fun holiday type read but it was pretty bleak and grim in most places. I wanted to know much more about the Palace of Strange Girls which was almost incidental to the storyline and wish it had focussed much more on Beth the little girl who was recovering from a major operation, as promised at the beginning rather than her very dysfunctional parents to whom I wanted to give a good shake.
June 7, 2024
3.5 stars, rounded up because why round down?There are many aspects to this story that I enjoyed. The details of life in the 1950’s were well handled, the moments when we had the child’s point of view were very engaging. All storylines were very neatly (too neatly?) tied up at the end.
And yet… the lengthy details of fabric production and mills and weaving and unions felt heavy and reminded me of the dangers of inserting too many ‘interesting’ facts found when researching a novel. The mother, Ruth, was so very unlikable and two dimensional that I found her distracting. The parent’s doomed relationship was not my interest and we followed it at the expense of knowing more of the child, Beth, who was a far more fascinating character.
The title suggested more details on the mysterious world of the tiger woman and while I can see the metaphor of all women at that time being ‘strange’ due to patriarchal misogyny I think Day could’ve explored that underground world a little more than she did.
A fun read, but I did skim bits.
And yet… the lengthy details of fabric production and mills and weaving and unions felt heavy and reminded me of the dangers of inserting too many ‘interesting’ facts found when researching a novel. The mother, Ruth, was so very unlikable and two dimensional that I found her distracting. The parent’s doomed relationship was not my interest and we followed it at the expense of knowing more of the child, Beth, who was a far more fascinating character.
The title suggested more details on the mysterious world of the tiger woman and while I can see the metaphor of all women at that time being ‘strange’ due to patriarchal misogyny I think Day could’ve explored that underground world a little more than she did.
A fun read, but I did skim bits.
May 19, 2020
Flew through this book. Enjoyed it far more than I was expecting to. Not quite the sickly sweet chick lit I first thought it was going to be. Gave a good feel of the decade it was set in.
December 7, 2009
Sallie Day's debut novel The Palace of Strange Girls has just the kind of physical presence that catches my eye. With 352 pages, it has a nice weight to it, and the cover contains a retro photo, much like Laurie Graham's novels. Fortunately, that vintage photo wasn't only used for artistic appeal; the story takes place in the summer of 1959 during the Singleton family's vacation at the beaches of Blackpool, England.
The Singletons are four: father Jack, a foreman at the local cotton mill; mother Ruth, a strict and somewhat dour housewife with dreams for a bigger, better way of living; daughter Helen, an obedient fifteen-year-old aching to escape her mother's iron fist and live like a real teenage; and daughter Beth, a charismatic and energetic seven-year-old whose illness and recent surgery keeps her under the watchful eye of Ruth. On the surface, the Singletons look like a normal, middle-class family, but we quickly learn that (obviously) the Singletons are not as perfect as they may appear. Beneath the surface, there is a lot of tension, and there are a lot of secrets floating around. And of course, being the 1950s, it's better to keep up the perfect facade than air out your dirty laundry.
The first half of this book felt muddled. It took me a long time to get into the flow of the narrative, between the flashbacks and the alternating focus on each character. By the middle, I was used to the language and perspective, and I could sense a different tone used when describing each character. Jack is very much a man of the times, torn between convention and passion; Ruth tries her best to maintain an outward image while longing for something more; Helen has the fire of a teenage; and Beth possesses that innocent childhood curiosity. But though the characters had very defined personalities, I never got the feeling that I really knew them. To me, they seemed rather flat, without much dimension.
One fun theme running throughout was that of the I-Spy books of 1950s Britain, in which children were given a list of things to hunt down in a variety of environments. Beth's I-Spy book serves as a means to explore the world by dragging her out of the bubble to which Ruth has restricted her. [It eventually leads Beth to The Palace of Strange Girls, a freak show attraction on the pier, but I still don't find it a pivotal enough scene or theme to have inspired the book's title.:]
The Palace of Strange Girls entertained me for the second half, but I felt like it had tension that should have been building up towards something. Some novels can successfully serve as a snapshot of a life or time without ever culminating with a climactic scene and conclusion, but something about this one just didn't gently flow and allow that. I wasn't interested enough in any of the characters to care about what happened to any of them after I read the last page. Sallie Day has the skills to write an excellent story, and I bet her next novel will be more polished.
The Singletons are four: father Jack, a foreman at the local cotton mill; mother Ruth, a strict and somewhat dour housewife with dreams for a bigger, better way of living; daughter Helen, an obedient fifteen-year-old aching to escape her mother's iron fist and live like a real teenage; and daughter Beth, a charismatic and energetic seven-year-old whose illness and recent surgery keeps her under the watchful eye of Ruth. On the surface, the Singletons look like a normal, middle-class family, but we quickly learn that (obviously) the Singletons are not as perfect as they may appear. Beneath the surface, there is a lot of tension, and there are a lot of secrets floating around. And of course, being the 1950s, it's better to keep up the perfect facade than air out your dirty laundry.
The first half of this book felt muddled. It took me a long time to get into the flow of the narrative, between the flashbacks and the alternating focus on each character. By the middle, I was used to the language and perspective, and I could sense a different tone used when describing each character. Jack is very much a man of the times, torn between convention and passion; Ruth tries her best to maintain an outward image while longing for something more; Helen has the fire of a teenage; and Beth possesses that innocent childhood curiosity. But though the characters had very defined personalities, I never got the feeling that I really knew them. To me, they seemed rather flat, without much dimension.
One fun theme running throughout was that of the I-Spy books of 1950s Britain, in which children were given a list of things to hunt down in a variety of environments. Beth's I-Spy book serves as a means to explore the world by dragging her out of the bubble to which Ruth has restricted her. [It eventually leads Beth to The Palace of Strange Girls, a freak show attraction on the pier, but I still don't find it a pivotal enough scene or theme to have inspired the book's title.:]
The Palace of Strange Girls entertained me for the second half, but I felt like it had tension that should have been building up towards something. Some novels can successfully serve as a snapshot of a life or time without ever culminating with a climactic scene and conclusion, but something about this one just didn't gently flow and allow that. I wasn't interested enough in any of the characters to care about what happened to any of them after I read the last page. Sallie Day has the skills to write an excellent story, and I bet her next novel will be more polished.
March 16, 2012
Time taken to read - 1 day
Blurb From Goodreads
Blackpool, 1959. The Singleton family is on holiday. Seven-year-old Beth is trying to avoid her mother Ruth's eagle-eyed supervision, while her sixteen-year-old sister Helen has befriended a waitress whose fun-loving ways hint at a life beyond Ruth's strict rules. When a letter arrives from Crete, a secret re-emerges from the wartime past of Ruth's husband Jack that could destroy their marriage. As Helen is tempted outside the safe confines of her mother's strict edicts, and Beth forges her own path, all four Singletons must struggle to find their place in a shifting world of promenade amusements, illicit sex and stilted afternoon teas.
My Review
Ruth and Jack are going on holiday to Blackpool with their two daughters, Beth (7) who is poorly and been a sick child for a while and Helen (16), desperate for a bit of freedom from her dominating mother and a little fun. The story is set in the late 50s and introduces us to the way of life at that time and how the family see and want different things. It shows how sometimes the past can come back to haunt us and sometimes the things we want aren't always what we thought they we be and what price comes with them.
What a wonderful wee read! There isn't anything huge or a single event in the book I can say oh that was explosive that is why I loved it but from I read practically read the first page I couldn't put it down. It takes you to a different era, when even the simple things come at a cost and that no matter when in time it is our lives generally go through the same issues.
I got to enjoy all of the characters, even the unlikable stuck up Ruth who whilst at times she really annoyed you, you couldn't help but want to learn more about her character and I think with all of them you can if not identify personally you can empathize with them. First time reading this author and came across it by chance on holiday, 4/5 for me and I would definitely read her again!
Blurb From Goodreads
Blackpool, 1959. The Singleton family is on holiday. Seven-year-old Beth is trying to avoid her mother Ruth's eagle-eyed supervision, while her sixteen-year-old sister Helen has befriended a waitress whose fun-loving ways hint at a life beyond Ruth's strict rules. When a letter arrives from Crete, a secret re-emerges from the wartime past of Ruth's husband Jack that could destroy their marriage. As Helen is tempted outside the safe confines of her mother's strict edicts, and Beth forges her own path, all four Singletons must struggle to find their place in a shifting world of promenade amusements, illicit sex and stilted afternoon teas.
My Review
Ruth and Jack are going on holiday to Blackpool with their two daughters, Beth (7) who is poorly and been a sick child for a while and Helen (16), desperate for a bit of freedom from her dominating mother and a little fun. The story is set in the late 50s and introduces us to the way of life at that time and how the family see and want different things. It shows how sometimes the past can come back to haunt us and sometimes the things we want aren't always what we thought they we be and what price comes with them.
What a wonderful wee read! There isn't anything huge or a single event in the book I can say oh that was explosive that is why I loved it but from I read practically read the first page I couldn't put it down. It takes you to a different era, when even the simple things come at a cost and that no matter when in time it is our lives generally go through the same issues.
I got to enjoy all of the characters, even the unlikable stuck up Ruth who whilst at times she really annoyed you, you couldn't help but want to learn more about her character and I think with all of them you can if not identify personally you can empathize with them. First time reading this author and came across it by chance on holiday, 4/5 for me and I would definitely read her again!
July 12, 2014
The year is 1959 and the Singleton family are taking their yearly holiday in Blackpool at the same hotel they go to every year. Ruth runs this family with a rod of iron and makes every decision, no matter how small, down to how many days her sixteen year old daughter must wear her skirt before she is allowed to change it. Helen ,who at 16 is bored and restless becomes friends with a flighty, flirty waitress who shows her a different side to life. Seven year old Beth is recovering from heart surgery and is a sad little girl suffocating in the strict regime and her thick woolen vest. The father, Jack, is hiding a war time secret from his wife as well as trying to decide whether to take a higher paying job which would keep his wife happy but is not what he really wants. It only takes a little too much holiday alcohol to make life come tumbling down around them. Having had a domineering mother myself I felt sorry for all of the other characters and related to the book, it was still a little depressing though even if they are all happier at the end.
October 16, 2009
The Singletons are in Blackpool for their annual wakes week holiday from their mill town of Blackburn.They stay in the same hotel and do the same things every year, except this year is different. Jack must reach an important decision about his future, Ruth is worried about their two daughters: Helen is 16 and wants to leave school and see more of life, and 7 yr old Beth is recovering from a serious illness. Written against the back drop of the 1950's, this is a story of thwarted desire,unfullfilled dreams and discontent. It vividly brings to life the era of the 50's with dirndyl skirts and winklepickers, candy floss and juke boxes....I really enjoyed it.
January 4, 2017
A sweet, nostalgic take on a time quickly passing away. For one week, the Singleton family takes to the seaside at Blackpool. They are all feeling stifled in their own way: a little girl overprotected by her unhappy mother. A teen-age sister growing up fast. A father with a secret. And the only industry they know --- textiles --- is crumbling around them. It is one week of crinoline skirts, seaside carnies and an ISpy adventure. Lots of spiky and try-hard characters, a salty setting, and fun period story. No heavy-lifting, but still a good summer-day read.
June 13, 2013
The Palace of Strange Girls racconta la vacanza estiva del 1959 della famiglia Singleton. Come sempre Jack, Ruth e le loro figlie, l'adolescente Helen e la piccola Beth, passano le vacanze all'Hotel Belvedere a Blackpool, una cittadina costiera dell'Inghilterra, ma quest'anno la famiglia ha qualche problema di troppo.
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October 30, 2017
Set in 1959 Blackpool the novel follows the Singleton family on holiday from Blackburn just as the decline of the Lancashire Cotton industry begins.
The book follows the family during their week's stay with flashbacks to add to the back story of the characters. As for plot there isn't much, but what rescues the book is the way Day fleshes out the characters. There is a theme of how the female characters are trapped in the circumstances of their lives, with hope given to the Singleton's elder daughter that she might escape her drudgery.
There is one minor character, Tiger Woman who works at the Palace of Strange Girls who the Singleton's younger daughter Elizabeth becomes obsessed with. I think Day missed a trick here as Tiger Woman seems to be the only character in control of her life. I wanted to know more.
The other obsession Elizabeth has is the completion of her i-spy book and there is a nice touch where each chapter is headed with an i-spy quote which foreshadows the events of that chapter.
The book was let down a little with too much explanation of how to weave various cloths within a mill. It really should have been edited out.
Day gives a nice sense of time and place and you do get the feeling it is well researched a novel worth a read if you like to see how characters develop and change.
The book follows the family during their week's stay with flashbacks to add to the back story of the characters. As for plot there isn't much, but what rescues the book is the way Day fleshes out the characters. There is a theme of how the female characters are trapped in the circumstances of their lives, with hope given to the Singleton's elder daughter that she might escape her drudgery.
There is one minor character, Tiger Woman who works at the Palace of Strange Girls who the Singleton's younger daughter Elizabeth becomes obsessed with. I think Day missed a trick here as Tiger Woman seems to be the only character in control of her life. I wanted to know more.
The other obsession Elizabeth has is the completion of her i-spy book and there is a nice touch where each chapter is headed with an i-spy quote which foreshadows the events of that chapter.
The book was let down a little with too much explanation of how to weave various cloths within a mill. It really should have been edited out.
Day gives a nice sense of time and place and you do get the feeling it is well researched a novel worth a read if you like to see how characters develop and change.
February 15, 2020
It always annoys me when a book has a title that barely relates at all to its contents and The Palace of Strange Girls gets barely a mention - even though it's by far the most interesting thing mentioned in this rather boring and pedestrian tale of marital strife and sexual awakening.
One of the main characters is also such a snobbish, conservative, religious zealot with a hard heart and consumerist bent - which makes Ruth sound more interesting than she is - that you just want to slap her or shut her up!
More a series of pulled together vignettes than a purposeful novel with a full story to it, would have preferred the male lead to walk out on the central female character and take the kids with him! Which is rarely a position I'd ever imagine for myself, but Ruth is just such a deeply depressing character!
One of the main characters is also such a snobbish, conservative, religious zealot with a hard heart and consumerist bent - which makes Ruth sound more interesting than she is - that you just want to slap her or shut her up!
More a series of pulled together vignettes than a purposeful novel with a full story to it, would have preferred the male lead to walk out on the central female character and take the kids with him! Which is rarely a position I'd ever imagine for myself, but Ruth is just such a deeply depressing character!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2022
A magnificent read, rich in details and with an evident literary effort to create this intense work, all the characters have their own personality, full of details. It's a work so full of details that it's not difficult to go deeply into the story an intense and emotional work, Day did an excellent job on this book that certainly deserved more recognition. The only thing that perhaps could have been done differently is the end, it certainly deserved more details and a little bit more From history itself, not just a summary of everything that happened in a certain time. Putting that aside " The Palace Of Strange Girls" is a brilliant and touching read I absolutely adore it and would definitely recommend for anyone.
February 15, 2021
Struggle of life in the 50,s with a mum fighting to show the best of her working class family and trying to improve their social status. Sex is something to put up with. Daughters fight to live their own lives, not Mum's ambitions. Father has a wartime secret On all fronts family is growing apart. Poignant, with humorous clashes of characters trying to prove who has succeeded in life.
Couldn't put the book down.
Couldn't put the book down.
March 11, 2018
Many thanks to my friend Rachel for sending me this! I absolutely loved it. Set in Blackpool in the late 1950s, it feels so much like it could have been written then, the feel is so authentic! The Singleton family were all such interesting characters to read about too. Nice, light, summer reading; although not TOO light and fluffy :)
September 3, 2023
Set in the fifties, gives a good overview of what a family holiday was like then in Blackpool but I have to say I didn’t warm to the main characters apart from the daughter Beth.
The parents were terribly dysfunctional. I had no sympathy for Ruth and i desperately wanted her to find out about Jack and his ‘misdemeanours’ but all kept quiet so she could get her semi detached house.
The parents were terribly dysfunctional. I had no sympathy for Ruth and i desperately wanted her to find out about Jack and his ‘misdemeanours’ but all kept quiet so she could get her semi detached house.
May 19, 2024
The book is most likely historically accurate. But hard to reads parts of it today, Cora being shamed for been beaten by her husband. Helen nearly being raped, with no further consequences. I liked the historic feel, but some of the characters actions didn't come with consequences. Nobody had a good relationship with their family members, didn't like any of the characters other than Beth.
April 11, 2023
The title made me think this would have more adventure and/or fantasy in it than it did, but the “strange girls” in the title barely appeared for a couple of scenes and were much less magical than I imagined.
October 30, 2018
A decent evocation of the 1950s and its social restrictions, but failed to live up to the mysterious title.
May 29, 2022
Perfect summer reading- full of nostalgia and happy times
July 19, 2022
An easy, pleasant read for beach or plane. All of the characters were "main," yet no one experienced any real growth in the end.
June 1, 2024
I enjoyed this book and it's mix of past and present but was disappointed with the ending.
October 23, 2016
Great period piece of life in 1950s Northern England during a family holiday in blackpool
September 15, 2025
📖 Book Review 📖
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
‘Some people haven’t moved on since the war - instead of looking ahead to the sixties they seem to be still stuck in the forties’
Over the holiday week, all four Singletons must struggle to find their place in a shifting world.
Post war Britain and a family holiday to the popular destination of Blackpool.
A very strict mother thinks she knows everything about her family.
An historical novel highlighting the way things were and how others were treated.
I really enjoyed this book, multiple POV and lots going on.
I loved the daughter’s relationship but didn’t think much of the parents.
Iv read a lot of WW2 fiction so it was refreshing to read a story based after and how people tried to overcome what happened.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
‘Some people haven’t moved on since the war - instead of looking ahead to the sixties they seem to be still stuck in the forties’
Over the holiday week, all four Singletons must struggle to find their place in a shifting world.
Post war Britain and a family holiday to the popular destination of Blackpool.
A very strict mother thinks she knows everything about her family.
An historical novel highlighting the way things were and how others were treated.
I really enjoyed this book, multiple POV and lots going on.
I loved the daughter’s relationship but didn’t think much of the parents.
Iv read a lot of WW2 fiction so it was refreshing to read a story based after and how people tried to overcome what happened.
October 29, 2009
The Palace of Strange Girls is Sallie Day’s debut novel. Day grew up in England and her father ran a cotton mill, so it stands to reason why the father in this book also works in a cotton mill. Strange Girls revolves around the Singleton family on their holiday in July 1959. By all outward appearances they are your typical family living in the recession of the late 50’s. Ruth, mom and wife, runs her house the way all housewives should: with a dust mop and financially iron fist. Husband/father Jack is dependable and hardworking. Teenage daughter Helen obeys her parents every command, and youngest daughter Beth tries to be normal with her abnormal childhood. Ruth tries her best to make her family as status quo and typical as possible, but there are secrets underneath the pretty polka-dot facade, and she can’t keep them hidden if she doesn’t know what they are. It took me a while to be attracted to Strange Girls. The beginning felt sluggish and unformed. By the middle I was used to the flashbacks which help paint the hidden secrets behind the Singleton family, and I was able to start really enjoying the story. The characters were interesting and individual; I enjoyed the tense atmostphere surrounding Ruth, and the pity I felt for Beth who is just trying to be a fun little girl with her I-Spy book. The voice has a nice shift to it depending on which character you’re reading about. Each chapter title is an I-Spy item with description, which is both adorable and lighthearted, but turns appropriately serious for the later conflict. I liked the Singleton family and their flaws and the people that surround. I could clearly visualize Blackpool and the boardwalk and smell the ocean salt. I thought it was a nice, easygoing story, though the end felt incomplete, and the epilogue served as a convenient wrap-up for a few loose strings. I enjoyed the tension between the characters, but felt that it wasn’t fully utilized in the beginning. The flashbacks were good, but also felt like another story that could have been written separate from Strange Girls,one that I probably would have liked better. Overall, I enjoyed Sallie Day’s debut novel and can really see her potential, but it felt like someone who hadn’t been writing for that long. I have a feeling her next work will be more polished and I look forward to seeing what she does.
January 15, 2013
I liked this book - but more towards the end than the beginning, so it's one that's worth sticking with. Like other reviewers of this book, I found the real strength of the novel was the vivid evocation of the fifties, the detailed research which has obviously gone into it and which is apparent in so many ways - for example, the detail with which the cotton industry is described and the manner in which Blackpool of the 50s is brought to life via fashions/music etc. I wasn't too sure about the chapter titles at first. Initially, I just couldn't see the point in them, but these too became more meaningful as the novel progressed. The one thing I really struggled with was the title of the book and the blurb which invests real importance to Beth's chance meeting with the Tiger Woman from the Palace of Strange Girls - whereas, in actuality, this is only a minor event in the book and although it is true that the meeting does go onto inform Beth's character and future behaviour - the event itself is so transiently referred to in the text, that it's hardly worth titling the whole book "The Palace of Strange Girls". It also doesn't even happen until much, much later in the text. There is also too much going on in the book for my liking - events unfold through the eyes of too many characters - it makes the story seem bitty somehow. It reads a bit like a first or second draft and it is the opinion of this reader that it could have been made to be a little more polished if more work had been put into the editing process. It reads, in short, like a first novel. My initial opinion of the book when I began it was that it was very samey to everything else out there at the moment, although I did think that the narrative had moments of brilliance as well as those of blandness. I have to say that I think every author who has done an MA in Creative Writing produces the same kind of stuff - it's probably what's taught on the course. Still, if you are interested in the 50s, you WILL enjoy this book and I think this author will improve, so she's probably one to look out for in the future. I also particularly liked the detail at the end of this particular edition of the book: the recipe for Blackpool rock is a lovely final touch to the book. My advice: get the book out of the library (i.e. don't buy it) and photocopy the recipe at the back.
March 8, 2011
It’s summer, 1959, and we join the Singleton family for their annual week-long holiday at The Belvedere in Blackpool. On the surface, all seems well with Jack, Ruth and their daughters, seven year-old Beth and sixteen year-old Helen. But despite appearances, none of them is truly happy. Beth, not long out of hospital, just wanting to fill in her I-Spy book and fit in, is being smothered by an overprotective Ruth. Helen is basically a good girl but really longs for a bit of freedom: deceit may be her only option while Ruth holds the reins tight. Ruth’s burning ambition is a new semi-detached house on Boundary Drive, but Jack doesn’t want to be saddled with a mortgage. And Jack is weighing up job offers against a sense of responsibility to his family and co-workers as well as mulling over a letter from Crete, a potential threat to his marriage if the secret from his wartime past is revealed.
Sallie Day’s stirring descriptions of the town and its associated attractions and distractions take us back to that time with consummate ease. Her characters have real depth and she conveys their emotions and feelings so well that their joys, fears, insecurities, frustrations and guilt are palpable. This story will resonate with anyone who grew up in the late fifties. If they did that growing up in England, the mention of the various household names from that time will evoke the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of their childhood. This expertly crafted story takes some unexpected turns and keeps the reader captivated. The excerpts from I-Spy at the Seaside which head each chapter are echoed in that chapter: a delightful touch. Altogether a brilliant read!
Sallie Day’s stirring descriptions of the town and its associated attractions and distractions take us back to that time with consummate ease. Her characters have real depth and she conveys their emotions and feelings so well that their joys, fears, insecurities, frustrations and guilt are palpable. This story will resonate with anyone who grew up in the late fifties. If they did that growing up in England, the mention of the various household names from that time will evoke the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of their childhood. This expertly crafted story takes some unexpected turns and keeps the reader captivated. The excerpts from I-Spy at the Seaside which head each chapter are echoed in that chapter: a delightful touch. Altogether a brilliant read!
November 18, 2011
The Singleton family from Blackburn spend their 1959 Wakes Week, the local shutdown holiday, in Blackpool, along with plenty of others from their hometown. This story is a week in the company of upwardly mobile housewife Ruth, her husband Jack who is harbouring his own secrets and ambitions, sixteen year old Helen who is impatient to become a youth of the sixties, and seven year old Beth who is recovering from a serious illness and is being very coddled against her will as a result. I loved it.
I found the story absorbing and interesting, full of period colour. The characters are fabulous and I really cared about them. I liked the way the flashbacks were separated completely from the 1959 story. And the integration of I-Spy books (a staple of my 1970s childhood too, and still going strong for my daughter except Big Chief I-Spy of Wigwam-by-the-water has been replaced by Michelin's Bibendum) is completely brilliant. I rarely read the little chapter heading quotes in books, this book is very much the exception, the I-Spy quotes really made the book.
There are places where the author's knowledge of Lancashire cotton mills becomes a bit too "look how well I've done my research" and there's an epilogue which was nice but I thought it might have been a stronger book if the future beyond the summer holiday had been left to the reader's imagination, it would have had less "feel good"-ness about it then though.
I found the book via Goodreads recommendations and will be looking them up again!
I found the story absorbing and interesting, full of period colour. The characters are fabulous and I really cared about them. I liked the way the flashbacks were separated completely from the 1959 story. And the integration of I-Spy books (a staple of my 1970s childhood too, and still going strong for my daughter except Big Chief I-Spy of Wigwam-by-the-water has been replaced by Michelin's Bibendum) is completely brilliant. I rarely read the little chapter heading quotes in books, this book is very much the exception, the I-Spy quotes really made the book.
There are places where the author's knowledge of Lancashire cotton mills becomes a bit too "look how well I've done my research" and there's an epilogue which was nice but I thought it might have been a stronger book if the future beyond the summer holiday had been left to the reader's imagination, it would have had less "feel good"-ness about it then though.
I found the book via Goodreads recommendations and will be looking them up again!
February 20, 2013
It was difficult for me to relate to The Palace of Strange Girls by Sallie Day. As an American woman firmly entrenched in modern culture, this novel set in the late 1950's in a seaside town that the writer compares to Atlantic City challenged me in a few ways. First, I found Ruth, one of the main characters to be abusive and cruel to almost everyone in her life. I immediately disliked her and that remained throughout the novel. This is difficult as the most reprehensible characters ususally have at least one moment of redemption, but not Ruth. I'm quite empathetic and search for a connection with most characters and unfortunatley was never able to do so with Ruth. Second, I'm not quite sure of the plot. Often novels centered on character development have minimal plot movement, but I do not believe The Palace of Strange Girls has much character development. Except for the child Beth, who does gain some confidence and joy in life by the end of the novel, none of the other characters seem to change much. Third, many of the moral standards and actions in the relationships of this novel are quite distant from current ones. I am a fan of historical fiction and usually have no problem leaving the ways of the past in the past to enjoy a good story, but this novel contained incident after incident that quite repelled me. I was intrigued by the characters initally and expected some drama but at the end was disappointed. The author does implement a clever use of I-Spy throughout the novel connecting it with the quest by young Beth for adventure, knowledge and acceptance.
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