The Summer Before the War - Hardcover

Simonson, Helen

3.78

42,202 ratings by Goodreads

9781408837641: The Summer Before the War

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408837641 ISBN 13: 9781408837641

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016

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East Sussex, 1914. It is the end of England's brief Edwardian summer, and everyone agrees that the weather has never been so beautiful. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his Aunt Agatha, who lives with her husband in the small, idyllic coastal town of Rye. Agatha's husband works in the Foreign Office, and she is certain he will ensure that the recent sabre rattling over the Balkans won't come to anything. And Agatha has more immediate concerns; she has just risked her carefully built reputation by pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master.

When Beatrice Nash arrives with one trunk and several large crates of books, it is clear she is significantly more free thinking - and attractive - than anyone believes a Latin teacher should be. For her part, mourning the death of her beloved father who has left her penniless, Beatrice simply wants to be left alone to pursue her teaching and writing.

But just as Beatrice comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape, and the colourful characters that populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For despite Agatha's reassurances, the unimaginable is coming. Soon the limits of progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small Sussex town and its inhabitants go to war.

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Review:

Radiant ... I found myself turning pages with increasing awe as well as pleasure. The provincial village of Rye, Sussex in the days just before and after the Great War is so vividly drawn it fairly vibrates - but it's the depth and sensitivity with which Simonson weighs the steep costs and delicate bonds of wartime - and not just for the young men in the trenches, but for every changed life and heart - that reveals the full mastery of her storytelling. Like a Jane Austen or Henry James for our day and age, Simonson is that good, and The Summer Before the War is nothing short of a treasure (Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife)

At once haunting and effervescent, The Summer Before the War demonstrates the sure hand of a master. Simonson's characters enchant us, her English countryside beguiles us, and her historical intelligence keeps us at the edge of our seats. This luminous story of a family, a town, and a world in their final moments of innocence is as lingering and lovely as a long summer sunset (Annie Barrows, author of The Truth According to Us and co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society)

In the noisy world of today it is a delight to find a novel that dares to assert itself quietly but with the lovely rhythm of Helen Simonson's funny, comforting, and intelligent debut (Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Olive Kitteridge')

How clever of her to have entered that era so convincingly and gently and to have written about such traumas along with lovely wit and grace.hugely enjoyable (Sofka Zinovieff)

Words cannot convey the slow-burning pleasure (The Times)

Funny, barbed, delightfully winsome storytelling . It's about intelligence, heart, dignity and backbone (New York Times)

A charming, funny and absorbing debut (Daily Mail)

A beautiful little love story (Alexander McCall Smith)

A gorgeous gem of a book. I found it original and quirky and the characters absolutely adorable - she's a wonderful, original writer and the characters really live. My ideal read, I loved (Santa Montefiore, author of The House by the Sea)

Simonson's writing is as delightful as ever, lively, witty and heartfelt, while engaging thoughtfully with the brutal imminence of World War I (Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles)

Book Description:

Witty, heart-warming and profoundly moving, The Summer Before the War is the story of an unexpected heroine and an unassuming village, caught up in an unimaginable war - by the bestselling author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

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