Les Vacances by Phil Sloman

Book Review

Sarah Deeming

Elizabeth and Frank have a familiar life. They have lived in the same house for their whole married life, gone to the same place on holiday every year, eat the same food, and see the same people. Their repetitive life is a curse as much as a comfort until one year, in a rare impulsive move, Frank suggests a holiday in France. But Elizabeth is apprehensive from the start, and her fears seem well founded. They get lost on the way to their holiday gîte; there are graves of monks on the gîte’s grounds, and Elizabeth is attacked by the local drunk who claims everyone is out to get him. But what really annoys her is the way Frank is behaving towards Madeleine, the gîte’s owner. However, when Elizabeth sees a line of people with torches carrying a body near the gîte in the night, and Madeleine denies it happened, it would appear Elizabeth’s suspicions that not everything is as it seems are correct. But can she convince Frank to leave before it is too late?

 Les Vacances is a novella that is told mostly from Elizabeth’s point of view. The opening is fantastic, establishing Frank and Elizabeth as a realistic couple you could meet in the street from the start. We learn of their ups and downs over the years, the things left unsaid that should have been said, and the ambitions quietly put away for the family’s good. They go to the same place on holiday every year with the same people, so this holiday to France is a big deal as it is something neither of them has done before, and it is also very sweet that Frank is still trying to make Elizabeth happy after all these years, even if his attempts fall short because he doesn’t understand her.

Woven around this first holiday abroad is a legend about a monastery destroyed by fire, killing all the monks. This macabre history is in Elizabeth’s guidebook, and the ancient gravestones are on a patch of land behind the gîte, which is even represented in the local church’s stained glass windows. The tension builds with each new reference Elizabeth discovers until she is ready to leave. Frank is the opposite of Elizabeth’s sensitivity and is oblivious to his cultural ignorance and embarrassing behaviour, and incredibly cringy because I’m sure we all know people like that. As Elizabeth prepares to leave, Frank digs his heels in wanting to stay and further isolates her, as he doesn’t see that the local town’s history is still relevant to the locals’ daily lives. Their own past, those things left unsaid, comes between them at a time when they should be sticking together.

I devoured Les Vacances in one sitting. It is a strong story with relatable characters and true peril that kept me turning the pages until I had finished it. This is a highly recommended horror, sinister and terrifying and a bargain at the price.