Vacant Places is the quiet story of a quiet Englishman's relationships. Henry Fairfax is the managing director of a company in the midlands; at night, he writes radio plays. He is divorced from his wife of nine years, but meets her again at a company party, and at her instigation, they resume a love relationship. In the meantime, Henry becomes involved in the deteriorating marriage of his brother, Jim, and sister-in-law, Molly. The characters are realistically drawn and the evolving relationships have interest, but the resolution seems far too pat. For larger fiction collections or omnivorous Anglophiles.