London Holiday

by Richard Peck

Book Overview

"A charmingly upbeat tale... Peck's stylish story offers not only pleasant diversion but a vicarious boost, and an urge to cheer, 'Go, girls '"-- Arizona Daily Star Lesley Hockaday is a St. Louis... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140278575
• ISBN13: 9780140278576
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

FRIENDSHIP, LOYALTY, AND NEW BEGINNINGS

Friendship, loyalty, and new beginnings. That's what London Holiday by Richard Peck is all about. It's also about being a charmingly upbeat tale amidst today's morass of painful confessionals and doomsday prognostications - how welcome! An Edgar Allen Poe Award-winner and author of 20 some novels for young readers, Mr. Peck shifts gracefully between genres with this, his fourth adult novel, as he focuses on three childhood friends, now middle-aged women, who travel to London for a stay at that city's most famous bed-and-breakfast created and run by the daunting Mrs. Smith-Porter who has learned that "people come halfway round the world to talk mainly of themselves and home." The women have distanced themselves from their Missouri girlhood. Despite the heroic, sometimes unwelcome efforts of Les, now a St. Louis do-gooder, time and miles have caused their friendship to fray at the edges. When one of the trio, Margo, a teacher who has been recently divorced and is coping with an irascible teenage daughter, is the victim of a classroom shooting, Les determines to reunite the three for a restorative stay in England. Unhappily married and an inveterate, hovering organizer, Les convinces the third member of the triumverate Julia, a New York City based interior designer still smarting from the AIDS related death of her mentor and partner, that this is the tonic Margo needs. Once the threesome crosses the Atlantic they encounter a cast of wonderful British characters, including Mrs. Dowdel, "the char of earlier times, down to the hat she never took off, the fag stuck to her lower lip, and the unchanging apron." London Holiday also proves to be an entertaining armchair travelogue as the trio takes tea in the orangery of Kensington Palace, visit the Ritz, and Julia explores the enormous tent city that is Bermondsey Market where she meets an attractive, single furniture dealer. All of the women have weathered disappointments and little suspect the gladsome life-changing opportunities they will find in London. There is romance, challenge and self-fulfillment awaiting each of them in this feel-good cheery tale. Mr. Peck's stylish story offers not only pleasant diversion but a vicarious boost, and an urge to cheer, "Go, girls!" - Gail Cooke

Rainy Day Perfect!

Peck's novel is wonderful read for nice rainy day next to the crackling wood fireplace. The characters are vivid and visual with color and personality. It was one of the books that is a semi-quick and enjoyable read.Perfect book for a rainy day!

Likeable and entertaining

I found "London Holiday " to be a light, quick and totally delightful read. Mrs Smith-Porter is a woman who has reinvented herself and has learned by experience, the ins and outs of the antique business.She runs a very up-market Bed and Breakfast establishment in one of the better parts of London.Three old school friends , Julia a very successful interior designer, Les, a St.Louis society matron and Margo, a school teacher, who are all at a crossroad in their lives, decide to holiday together and stay at Mrs. Smith-Porters B.andB. During the holiday,the course of their lives is altered forever in different ways, the catalyst being the enigmatic Mrs.Smith-Porter. This is an absorbing little book which I thoroughly enjoyed and I can't wait to get to a bookstore to find more by this talented author.

A Funeral, a Gunshot and Three Friends

This story begins with a funeral, a gunshot and a coming together of old friends now approaching middle age. Three childhood friends are prompted by unusual events to flee familiar grounds and try an over-the-pond holiday at a most unusual bed & breakfast "near the top of the list" - truly in a class by itself. There are really five main stories (three generations) running at the same time, yet they are clearly delineated. Richard Peck seems to really understand the dynamics of women's friendships. The flashbacks to wartime London are fascinating, and obviously well researched. The characters are well developed, from the "seen-it-all" and rather magical Mrs. Smith-Porter (with a slightly shady background behind her upright façade) to the individual charms of Les, Julia & Margo and the utterly-lacking-in-charm Kimberly. The Bed & Breakfast was a thank you from a former lover, and through treasure hunts in the London markets, Ms. Smith Porter has furnished it with lovely, priceless antiques and a certain joie de vivre. Concisely and beautifully written, the story evolves simply through circumstances that are quite amazing. Mr. Peck gives the readers a flavor of London past and present together with glimpses of foolish lives, marriages gone bad, lives gone lonesome -- and then tosses in a bit of enchantment to show how things can fade into adventure and novelty.

Delicious read

Thank you for writing this little book, Richard Peck. It was a delicious read I lingered over, like a rambling meal or a vacation itself. I can't believe you made English meals sound delectable (!). You have a very convincing sense of romance from a female point of view, too.