“It’s never too late for an adventure”
- Book: The Golden Girls Road Trip
- Location: United Kingdom
- Author: Kate Galley
Having previously read and so enjoyed author Kate Galley’s debut novel ‘The Second Chance Holiday Club’, accepting an invitation to read this, her second book, was never in any doubt for me.
However, this storyline story unfolded so seamlessly as I turned the pages and is so heavily nuanced with almost every new change of narrative and dialogue, that giving away spoilers is almost an impossibility, which I can now see is probably why the official ‘blurb’ is so concise.
So, here is my best shot at convincing you that you really do need to read ‘The Golden Girls Road Trip’ for yourself…
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Living in very modest circumstances in Brighton, England, Connie has recently celebrated her seventieth birthday. She has never married and has devoted her life as a single mother, to raising her son Simon, in a loving, if very bohemian lifestyle. Simon has always found life without a father figure slightly unsettling and is now with Diana, wife number three, many years his junior, very unresponsive to having Connie as her mother-in-law and who is now pregnant with Simon’s child. Connie herself has recently become engaged to Leo, a widower who on the face of it will provide the gentle stability Connie believes she craves. However, alarm bells are beginning to ring, that Leo may not be marrying Connie for who she is, but for who he wants her to be, an assumption confirmed by Leo’s daughter Fiona. Connie realises that she needs to put some distance between herself and Leo, whilst they each decide where their true feelings really lie.
It is at this opportune time that Connie reads an article about reclusive artist Alex Mackenzie, who is holding an exhibition of her paintings, the first for many decades, in her home City of Inverness. For Connie, who knew Alex very briefly from an enforced stay in Scotland at her aunt’s hotel, during her teenage years, the memories come flooding back of the fun the two of them had together for that fleeting period of time. However, despite them being the same age and sharing the same birthday, they have never kept in touch during the intervening years, having parted company under something of a cloud, although Alex did gift Connie one of her paintings, one of a pair, the other which she kept herself.
Connie, who has never lost the wanderlust feeling and still owns a rather dilapidated camper van, which is strawberry pink and cream and goes by the name of Ruby, decides on the spur of the moment, to make the trip to Scotland and surprise Alex at the exhibition, without telling anyone where she is going. Alex however, is far from pleased to see Connie, which is not the reception she had anticipated, although, having had a brief fling with a now deceased Lord, Alex seems very well set up and appears to have money to burn. After the sale, a very unresponsive and cold Alex, asks for Connie’s help in delivering some of the sold paintings to her favoured customers, who hail from all the far flung corners of the country.
Thus sees the pair embarking on one of the strangest mini road trips ever. After many arguments, with more than a few home truths being aired, much soul-searching by both ladies and nights spent in a variety of accommodation, an uneasy truce has been established. Their journey is however, curtailed before its last port of call, when Connie receives news from Simon that she needs to come home. It seems that Connie isn’t the only one who has been adept at being economical with the truth and when Simon confesses all that has been happening behind her back during the last few years, Connie is less than pleased. It takes a forthright Alex to bring Connie to her senses and Ruby is turned back towards Brighton in a mercy dash. One emotional rollercoaster ride for Connie, suddenly becomes two when another crisis piles in and due to work commitments, Simon can’t be there for moral support.
The unorthodox situation throws Connie and Diana together and a new understanding is reached between them, so by the time one sad and one happy event have finally sunk in with everyone, it is only then that Connie realises that Alex is no longer beside her, has taken all her belongings out of the van and left. It takes a determined Diana to force the entire truth and full-length story from Connie and with her daughter-in-law status now fully restored and the two of them totally at ease with one another, she sets about finding Alex to reunite her with Connie, exactly where she should have always been. Together at last, Connie and Alex embark on a once in a lifetime road trip of epic proportions.
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Whilst the storyline was nothing like I had expected it to be, there were so many aspects of it which immediately resonated with me, even though I am still a few years short of Connie and Alex’s septuagenarian age and I will certainly never have the courage to ‘grow old disgracefully’ as they are so intent on doing.
Connie’s commitment to her charity shop volunteering, where she has responsibility for keeping the bookshelves stocked and relevant, and the acute pain she feels when she is told that her services are no longer required, because a younger tranche of volunteer is being sought in an effort to change the average age demographic of the customer, is highly personal to me and I can relate to her reactions completely.
Her reconnection with her crochet work, is also a path I trod in an effort to discover a new niche for myself post charity shop era, although Connie’s motives are wonderfully unique to her circumstances and her quirky choice of the way forward with the first item she decides to make, highlights her underlying thoughtfulness and resourcefulness, even though she might deny it.
Finally, Connie’s relationship with her mother, although distanced and broken down for very different reasons, had a very similar impact and resulted in the same emotionally traumatic consequences for myself as her own. Having been estranged from one another for over 50 years, we are to discover that Connie has not been totally honest with either herself, or her son, about recent gestures of reconciliation her mother has made and her own intransigence at grasping the olive branch which has been held out to her. She has also never told Simon the true reasons for the break down in the mother daughter relationship, which had left the two of them as a self sufficient unit for all of his life.
Connie’s rather unconventional lifestyle might be explained by the many ‘trigger’ points, which are brought to the forefront of the story. The coercive and controlling behaviour her father exerted over her mother, which resulted in her mother being forced to choose which one to favour over the other – father or daughter. That the behaviour of both parents resulted in an excess consumption of alcohol, used as a crutch, which is then echoed down to the present day and manifested in Alex’s means of dealing with her own issues. The trauma of sexual assault and rape of a minor by a much older professional person, whose lies are instantly believed as the truth. The taboo of dealing with one’s sex and sexuality – All set against a 1970s backdrop, where an instilled morality code reflected attitudes of “Are you absolutely sure that’s what happened?”…and “How are we best going to bury this problem before friends and family discover the truth about us?”, all so alien to todays open and inclusive culture.
This is a story in four acts – A reconciliation with the past; A realigning of the future; The pain and discovery of the transition from one to the other; The joy of the life-changing journey ahead.
The story is bold and unconventional, multi-layered, well structured and developed. The writing is fluent, poignant and evocative, conveying just the right amount of empathy and compassion. Oh! and there are actually a fair few laugh-out-loud moments, although some of the humour is quite dark and wicked.
As with her debut novel, this story, whilst having a small, diverse cast of characters, is primarily focussed on two ladies of a certain age and I did stop to ponder on how much of what Kate Galley incorporates into her writing, is gleaned from the connections she makes in her day job as a mobile hairdresser. It was just so easy to forget that both Connie and Alex are now septuagenarians, although these days this is almost classed as late middle-age, so why shouldn’t a new beginning be possible. Although not in anyway a direct comparison with the successful film ‘Thelma and Louise’, there are definite overtones in some elements of the multiple genres, which might be described as a drama, adventure or road trip, with elements of a romantic comedy. The characters literally speak for themselves, they are so well-drawn and authentic. The synergy and changing dynamics between them, with the exception of the long established relationship Connie and Simon have, builds slowly over time and whilst they may be a multi-faceted, complex, emotional and at times volatile bunch of individuals, they are also addictive and quite easy to invest in.
As a confirmed ‘armchair traveller’, I am always looking to be transported to the locations my reading takes me to. So, whilst Connie and Alex only tend to make whistle-stop trips to many of the paces on the route of their mini road trip, author Kate Galley makes full use of her palette of words to paint a visually perfect picture of the physical locations, whilst imbuing an immersive sense of time and place, sights and sounds, which brings the experience to life.
What makes reading such a lovely experience for me, is that with each new book, the individual stories take me on a unique journey of discovery, written by some amazing authors who have the ability to fire my imagination, stimulate my senses and stir my emotions. I can only recommend that read this book for yourself and see where your journey leads you. I have some lovely memories of this story to treasure, thank you Kate!
Another book which would definitely not have been anywhere on my radar, had it not been for the lovely team at publisher Aria Fiction introducing me to this fantastic author. As it is, this book is definitely right up there as one of my favourite reads of 2023 and will take some doing to be beaten. It’s 5 stars right across the board from me, for uniqueness of storyline, quality of storytelling, depth of characters and a wonderful mini UK road trip journey.
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