Vikki Heywood: 'Miss Veal & Miss Ham' (published June 2025)

Event information

It is 1951 and behind the counter of a modest post office in a leafy Buckinghamshire village Miss Dora Ham and Miss Beatrix Veal maintain their careful facade as respected local spinsters. But their true story is one of passion: suffragist activists who fell in love at a rally in the 1900s, danced in London's secret gay clubs between the wars, and comforted one another during the first night of the Blitz. Together they have built a life of quiet dignity and service in rural England.

Now over the course of one pivotal day their carefully constructed world begins to fracture. At the heart of this intimate, moving and witty novel is a story of resilience, the dignity of love that cannot be spoken, and the challenges that come when the future no longer feels safe.

Dame Vikki Heywood enjoyed a 42 year career in the Arts including 9 years as Exec Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has a life-long family home in Cornwall and remaining close family ties to the county.
‘The moving and surprising story of a discreet love, put to its greatest test amongst the tuppenny-ha’penny stamps and mint imperials of a little English post office at the start of the 1950s’.Rev Richard Coles


60 mins duration inc audience Q&A

Delicious snacks/teas/coffee/cake available at Cafe Limelight.