i picked this up on a whim a couple of days ago – it isn’t often that i’m able to read about older lesbians, and the opportunity to do so during pride month seemed altogether timely. the entirety of this book takes place over a single day – a life changing one, for the titular misses veal and ham – and i felt entirely immersed in it through the lens of beatrix’s point of view (that’s miss veal, for the uninitiated).

i find it particularly interesting when a day that is, indeed, life changing isn’t necessarily action-packed. i actually found myself reminded a lot of the buffy the vampire slayer episode “the body” – i don’t want to reveal too much, but the feelings it invoked and the impact it left on me felt similar. i do wish we’d seen a bit more glimpses of beatrix and dora originally falling in love, but i suppose that would’ve spoiled the purity of the single day narrative. regardless, though this work wasn’t very long, it left a touching, emotional impact.

Vikki Heywood's Miss Veal and Miss Ham is one of those novels that at first seem straightforward, but that keep unfolding in one's mind into increasingly complex works—not because of plot twists, but because the simplicity of the story allows the reader to see how very complicated even a simple story can be.

Veal is the younger of the pair by about ten years and identifies as what I would call butch, while the older Ham leans femme. I'm using these terms because I think the women themselves would approve of them and because they aptly describe parts of their personal style and their relationship with one another. Veal and Ham met in London between the two World Wars and moved to the countryside as World War II began. Men were going off to war, and what had once been men's work was now becoming women's work—but only until the men return, mind you.

The pair run a small, local post office that they have expanded to include a candy shop as well. Veal staffs the post office; Ham staffs the candy shop, with Veal doing all the bookkeeping. Most of the lower floor of their home is taken up by these retail efforts, with just a small kitchen and dining area behind. Upstairs, each of the two has her own bedroom, though they always sleep together.

Early on in their countryside move, they would travel back into London for evenings at a favorite lesbian bar, but those trips ended when the blitz began. And as the war continues, the candy shop produces even less than its usual small profits—sugar is being rationed, so anyone's ability to purchase sweets is limited even should they have the money. The women have sunk into debt and are on the brink of being evicted without any clear sense of where to go.

The novel's action takes place over the course of a single day—the day that will be their last in their home. Their plans are still vague, but the reality of their situation is looming over them, casting an increasingly dark shadow.

A single day, two very closeted women, a home both loved and held in ambivalence: when explored in the right way, these offer the makings of a complicated tale. Much is bleak in the novel, but there are moments of light and possibility, even if the possibilities are limited. If you enjoy queer lit or historical fiction set in the mid-20th Century, you'll find riches here. Heywood offers them in a straightforward manner leaving readers to see the layers upon layers of experience and action embedded within that 24-hour period.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

In 1951 Buckinghamshire, Dora Veal and Beatrix Ham look like ordinary spinsters behind their post office counter.

But their secret, private past is rather more colourful.

Until their world starts to unravel...

Miss Veal and Miss Ham is so wonderfully British. This is more a novella to me of the story between two women who are and have been partners for years in Britain. They've become old and they are losing their home and store to not being able to pay their bills. It's a sad tale. It's a quick read and quite lovely, although reader beware, it is a sad ending. Highly recommended reading!

1951. Dora Ham and Beatrix Veal are respected spinster ladies who live together. What no one knows is that they are secretly a couple. Now they are being kicked out of their home. What will they do next?
I enjoyed this book very much. Not a lot is written about lesbians in that day and age, so the material felt fresh and original. I did guess a major plot point but it in no way interfered with my enjoyment of this book. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

The story in this book takes place over the course of a day. At first glance, it seems a straightforward happening, two older women have fallen into arrears and their home and livelihood will be cruelly taken from them when the bailiffs arrive the following morning.
Appearances can be very deceptive. That is the charm of this novel, you are seduced by the ordinariness of events, and before you know it, you are invested in these women and fighting in their corner for a good outcome, even as you become filled with hope and dread in equal measure.
Miss Veal and Miss Ham are spinsters who happen to live and love together. The year is 1951, they run a post office / shop together in a small village. Previously they had lived in London, but moved to the small village when war broke out. Men had been called up for the war effort, and women took over many of their jobs, only to be cast aside when the men returned. In the small village, tongues began to wag upon their arrival and no social invitations were ever offered to these two dear friends.
Now, age is catching up with Dora, she is ten years senior to Beatrix, her memory and mobility is getting worse, and they are both thinking the unthinkable, will they be forced into a home and relinquish opportunities to be together, or do they do a courageous thing and be together for ever.
A simple story, but their shared history is one of endeavour, pushing against boundaries and refusing to be cowed by accepted conventions.
A very sad tale, but so thoughtful, honest and filled with love. I myself have met and known such women when I was growing up, the gossip and disgust that was aimed at ladies such as these, attitudes have now changed thank goodness.
There is a dark shadow of inevitability over their story, but you feel honoured to have shared their life events.
Such a wonderful piece of writing about the social history of lesbians of the older generation, their story is not often told due to shame or repression.
A five star read, I have already recommended it to my local library, our human library group( oral histories) and my book group.
I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK upon publication.

Their declining years haven’t been kind to Dora Ham and Beatrix Veal, the eponymous and intimate protagonists of Vikki Heywood’s finely wrought “Miss Veal and Miss Ham,” which opens with the two women’s circumstances in post-World War II England having become so severe that they've even made a suicide pact which they intend to carry out that very night.
On the eve of their intention, though, Dora signals her wanting to back out, leaving Beatrix to rush to try to intercept a letter she has just gotten off to a fellow-traveler male friend in which she has disclosed their plan and their intention for him to be the one who discovers their bodies.
Not, as she conveys to him when they get together for a walk, that anything has really improved in their overall circumstances, which include, in addition to their having never really felt welcome in the rural community to which they’ve escaped after the Blitz in London, the financial toll having finally made itself felt from Beatrix having been let go from her postmistress job – indeed, the bailiffs are due in the morning.
All this the more affecting for the restrained or undramatic manner in which author Heywood conveys the women’s plight, reminiscent for me of the style of Edith Wharton, though more the Edith Wharton of “Ethan Frome” than of some of her other works, what with the occasional departures from the novel’s more moderate tone – when, for instance, Beatrix eggs the car of their loathsome landlord –“ambitious little s**t of a man,” she calls him – or when she recalls the times in London clubs when Dora was more taken than she with the more flamboyant clientele “as they leered at the younger, fresher meat as it arrived on a Saturday night.” Indisputably offensive, such depictions, by today’s PC standards, but nevertheless enlivening a novel with its perhaps too-seemingly-sedate appearance for some readers.
Indeed, it’s as much with the hope of drawing greater audience numbers to a book that may not seem at first blush to be their cup of tea – in the manner of Jude Hayland‘s quietly engaging “The Odyssey of Lily Page” I found it – that I’m awarding it five stars even as I appreciate that its appeal will nevertheless be limited to a particularly discerning audience – the “happy few,” in Stendahl’s felicitous characterization.

What a wonderful novel, could even become a classic I reckon. A beautiful novel of lovel between 2 women in 1950’s England. I really enjoyed the character formation and the gentle roll of the storyline. Wonderful debut novel thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Thought provoking, heart-breaking and so masterfully written that you can feel the emotions that the characters experience as the story unfolds. A must read.

Miss Veal and Miss Ham Is a short book, but packs a huge emotional punch.

The couple have spent years together, running a small shop and sub-post office, but are brought to the brink of bankruptcy when the General Post Office decides they are surplus to requirements after the end of World War Two. We meet them on the day before the bailiffs are due to arrive to take everything away from them and leave them homeless and near destitute.

A beautifully told story about love, grief, queerness and keeping living despite it all. A very highly recommended read.

Emotional, sad and heartbreaking. Well plotted, fleshed out characters
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

How does one describe such a book? It’s full of empathy and in-depth emotions as both ladies approach the finality of being penniless and homeless and death. The Misses Veal and Ham have long lived together, shunned by society for their relationship. The Blitz and age were factors in their move to a small village outside London where they assumed ownership of the local post office and sweet shop. The author broaches some very delicate subjects with skill, but the end result is just so sad. Bravo, a true page-turner of a novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me this ARC for review.

short and seemingly straightforward, but really quite deep, story with some great vibes and very well done, understated characters. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

A sensitive, moving, and bittersweet novel, covering an important day in the life of two women living together in suburban post-war England.

Miss Beatrix Veal and Miss Dora Ham are respectable spinsters in public. Privately, they are long term partners in a world where being gay is not acknowledged or socially acceptable. The stifled feeling of the 1950s is well evoked, especially compared to the London life the women have left behind.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Real Rating: 4.25 of five

The antique dramatic structure of setting the action of your tale over the course of one day is antique for a reason: Focus. Audience focus, author focus, character focus, are all enhanced...even compelled...by setting all the action in one day. Author Heywood does that very well in Veal and Ham's life-challenging day.

These women are, very quietly, living as open a queer life as is possible in most of the world even today. Keep your head down, do your job, and people will mostly ignore you. Best you can hope for is that it will be a benign form of ignoring, not one of silent sneering. Veal and Ham, since they do work that's useful and even pleasant to the villagers they serve, get a big dose of selective attention on their service not on their behind-the-scenes lives; their dishonesty, though, in not being open does create mild ill-will instead of quiet acceptance. It's the last piece of even qualified good luck the ladies have on this terrible day.

Losing one's home ia an absolute emotional tornado. Veal and Ham, after moving out of London to escapr the Blitz, have lived the quiet village life...with excursions back to London for lesbian companionship...for a decade. In fact, the world around them is not the world they know, and still less the world they knew as suffragettes. The economic realities of the 1950s are austere and unforgiving, they are focused on survival as the people adjust their lives to being one among many markets not The British Empire. The main income Veal and Ham have had, expensive candy, is drying up in this new world so they can no longer make a go of it as they have been earning steadily less.

Does any of this ring any bells?

In the story we're told, no plan is in place for their future. They are...numb...at the overwhelming nature of losing home, livelihood, and status all at the same time. The one intention they had formed, a very permanent one, is for several reasons not carried out. But what are they to do? A mild enough venting of feelings against their odious landlord isn't a plan for a future.

Does there need to be a future? Are we...am I...so deeply conditioned as to find an ambiguous ending intolerable? No; not at all. I'm only giving this book four stars because it is a solid piece of plotting and a lovely job of writing about one day in a long life together. It is a complete story, as is the later-published (1973) original ending of Mrs. Dalloway called Mrs. Dalloway's Party. It was excised for a reason; where the novel ends is exactly where it should. Likewise, in this book, there are things as missing that should not be. Or, if a truly satisfying one-day novel was to come to being here, a different ending point (at 97%, if you're a curious Kindle reader) should have been chosen. As it stands, this is a marvelous story only a bit away from being excellent.

It is still a story I hope you will find and read.

1951, Buckinghamshire. It’s the end of the road for Dora Ham and Beatrice Veal, the two spinsters managing the village post office-cum-sweet shop. The bailiffs are coming tomorrow and the whole village will see their financial shaming and possibly discover their long-kept secret.
The author, Dame Vikki Heywood, draws on her great stage knowledge to set this intimate scene.
A well-rounded, elegantly written, touching story.