‘Our Holiday’ by Louise Candlish.

Published by HQ,
4 July 2024.
IBSN: 978-0-00861465-2 (HB)

The beach at Pine Ridge is full of people enjoying the festival atmosphere, when a property falls from the cliff onto the sand.  The story starts with a bang and then moves to the weeks preceding this event in the small Dorset village.

Numerous characters are introduced, varied in background, age, wealth and education, and we follow them through the month of August, as the village population increases with the arrival of the DFLs (Down from London visitors).  The villagers rely on tourism for a substantial part of their income.  As in many such places, there is resentment towards second-home owners, Pine Ridge itself having a couple of groups expressing their frustrations in direct action, from greeting tourists with a shower of eggs to small acts of criminal damage to property.  Such activities infuriate some of the visitors and serve to create a slightly menacing atmosphere.

As the residents and visitors settle in for the summer break (whether working on their second homes or working to make money while they can), the author uses the opportunities provided by the numerous and widely differing people to develop a number of sub-plots.  As the DFLs experience the small irritations of living in close and frequent contact with people they realise that they don’t really like, the cracks begin to appear.  The ruined building then reveals its own secret, when a body is discovered during the recovery work.  The village is shocked and, as the police begin to investigate, the pressure on certain individuals builds up and, for some, life really starts to unravel.

The first part of the story moves fairly slowly - the characters are introduced and, throughout the book, provide the opportunity to include many conversations around such subjects as generational divides, political differences and economic disparities.  The way they are presented does make it difficult to warm to any of them – thank goodness for Mango, the dog.  As the story progresses the pace picks up, and the author neatly weaves together the complicated lives of individuals, the circumstances in which they find themselves and how they react and gives a hint to the future. 
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Other books by this author:  The Only Suspect, The Heights, The Other Passenger, These People, Our House, The Swimming Pool, The Sudden Departure of Emily Marr, The Island Hideaway, The Day You Saved My Life, Other People’s Secrets, Before We Say Goodbye, I’ll Be There For You, The Second Husband, Since I Don’t Have You, The Double Life of Anna Day.

Louise Candlish studied English at University College London. She then worked as a travel writer, art book editor and copywriter, before beginning her first novel on a whim during a holiday in Sicily. Her books are emotional dramas, often located in foreign settings where characters behave quite differently from the way they might in their lives at home. Other People’s Secrets (published by Sphere in July 2010) is set in Orta San Giulio in the Italian Lakes, where Louise spent several (rainy) weeks researching. She lives in South London with her partner and daughter. 

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.