My Summer of Love - Softcover

Cross, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747552762 ISBN 13: 9780747552765

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2001

Synopsis

It's 1984 and one of the hottest summers Yorkshire's seen. It's the kind of woozy heat to lose your mind in. Mona is 15 years old, a drinker, a thief and a fruit machine addict. When she meets posh Tamsin Fakenham, the girls quickly descend into wild romance, igniting a story of obsession.

About this title

Review:

In her debut novel, My Summer of Love, Helen Cross has crafted a highly original and often shocking tale of two 15-year-olds spending one long, hot summer together. Mona is a heavy drinker, a fruit-machine addict and aspiring criminal, while Tamsin is a spoilt, rich girl, living in her parents' luxurious country home on the posh side of town. Although hailing from opposite ends of the social spectrum, both girls are victims of parental break-ups as well as, it would seem, suffering recent bereavements. When Tamsin's parents are away, Mona moves in and together the girls embark upon a wild relationship that is both beautifully romantic and shockingly violent. Set against the backdrop of a Yorkshire town in 1984, the text is seasoned with well-chosen motifs of the period: references to the miners' strike, the fear of nuclear attack, New Romantic fashions and the spectre of a serial killer on the loose.

It is this authenticity and humanity that separates this novel from other familiar coming-of-age tales. While novels covering this ground are often refracted through a lens of cosy, middle-aged nostalgia, My Summer of Love doesn't flinch from communicating the sheer awfulness of the girls' antics. As disturbing as the denouement is, the whole story is shot through with a black humour that, while not diminishing the sense of horror, conveys the teenage condition in all its embarrassing absurdity. Mona's obsession with removing bodily hair, Tamsin's weird culinary concoctions and their drunken attempts at dancing all rekindle cringe-inducing recollections of that period in your lives. Disturbing and funny in equal measure, Cross has succeeded in creating two vibrant and distinctive characters who linger in our memory long after the last page has been read. --Jane Morris

Review:

'A Sharp, disturbing and highly original debut novel' -- Sunday Mirror, 17th June 2001

'Dark, intelligent and superbly written. Prepared to be seduced... and shocked' -- Glamour, July 2001

'I think it's brilliant.' -- Julie Burchill

'Will fly off the shelves...a shockingly disturbing tale of teenage antics gone wrong one long hot summer.' -- Elle

'[An] Outstanding debut...with sharp black comedy.' -- Vogue

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0747552762
• ISBN 13: 9780747552765
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256