Author: Emylia Hall
ISBN: 978-0-7553-9084-7
RRP: $29.99
The Book Of Summers is Emylia Hall’s debut novel and was inspired by childhood holidays spent in rural Hungary. This book evokes a myriad of emotional responses sure to touch everyone who had a childhood shared between separated parents.
Covered in what I can only guess is Morning Glory on a background of glorious sky blue this volume is eye catching and reminiscent of summer. It is a paperback book but has the foldout cover flaps which I always consider using as a bookmark but can never bring myself to.
The Book Of Summers is set in the present but much of the story takes place in the past by way of a trip down memory lane.
From very early on you know that something big has happened to further tear apart an estranged family but you can never be sure just what it is. The answer to this is never even hinted at throughout the book though whenever Aunt Jessica visits you can tell there is something she disapproves of.
Beth is a puzzle to all of those around her, something of an enigma that no-one has been allowed close enough to unravel. For reasons as yet unknown Beth keeps everyone at a distance, never letting anyone close enough to really know her. We learn early on that this is in some way related to her childhood but it isn’t until the closing chapters that we discover the life-changing event that totally changed the course of her life – and her name.
An unscheduled visit from her father sets the wheels in motion for a big discovery, because that’s something that just isn’t done so there is sure to be more to it than a family catch-up. With him he brings a parcel that has arrived in the post, a parcel that resonates with the past and comes very close to being discarded unopened.
Eventually the parcel is opened and found to contain a letter bearing bad news and a photo album with the power to transport Beth to the childhood summers that held such promise when she holidayed in rural Hungary with her mother. Snapshots that thrust her back to that time, that place and allow us to share her time in Hungary. A time of awakening and growing up where she was free to explore and experiment.
As Beth remembers we tag along and hear all about her childhood. The week in Hungary is vivid and detailed allowing us to really share the experience with her, as she grows and matures under the Hungarian summer sun. The rest of the year isn’t completely left out but it is skimmed through briefly with the entire year taking as much time and space as that one magical week.
Beth grows up spending time not only with two separated parents but in two separate countries and in two very different worlds. Hungary is all about life, love, beauty and vivacity which can not compare to the dull and drab existence in England where it’s all about looking forward to the next letter, the next phone call, the next visit – where everything is about the anticipation of Hungary.
All of this takes us on that path down memory lane through the entry into puberty, the first crush, the first kiss, the first smoke, the first drink – all of which take place in Hungary. Almost like life is put on hold in England and all of the living happens in that one magical summer week in Hungary.
So what could possibly happen in that 7th Hungarian summer visit to change the balance so much that the book is shut, along with that place in heart and head where Hungary resides and Beth manages to erase all of Hungary as if it never existed? Well that’s something you are going to have to discover for yourself – I’m not telling.
This is a book that touched me as I think it will touch all who have grown up with separated parents. A book that describes that search for identity where your location changes who you are, different people in different places so who does that make you if something changes?
Our panel members have been reading The Book of Summers, find out what they thought below…
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
This book didn’t grab me instantly, but once it did I certainly got carried away. I actually felt I could smell the Hungarian foods and countryside alongside Beth, and truly got to share in her emotions as she relived her past and learnt so much about her mother and her history.
I particularly liked the cover design of the book as well! Helped me to get into the frame of mind and indulge in this story.
Thank you for the chance to review it!
I sat down and read this book in my break and I was just kept reading.
It was well described the whole way through the book. The author was clever with the way they described every aspect within the book and the story.
I liked the main character and thought she was relate-able to myself in some ways.
I loved the look of the book and it was the perfect size to carry around in a small bag and take with you on your daily commute.
Thanks for a wonderful read.
I was very excited to receive this book, it came beautifully presented. i was excited to be reading this book as a quick read of the inside cover and the intrigue starts. The book slowly revealed little secrets of forgotten summers. While I enjoyed the book I was very much wanting to be “taken back” into the summer that was being described. I felt I was left that little bit wanting and was more an observer from outside the window (so to speak) than part of the story being told. When reading I like to be transported to that time. In saying this, in some parts of the book was really good at this I just found that the “remembering parts” did not transport you. Overall I thought the author did a marvellous job of keeping you guessing until the end, and even then it was nothing that I would have imagined. I very much look forward to reading this author again.
I have just finished reading this book, and I do have to admit, like some other reviewers, it took me a while to “get in to it”, but I’m glad that I persevered! What a beautiful, if not a melancholic, story, that was well written. The way the scenery of both Hungary and England were described in the written word, made you feel like YOU were there too. I loved the story of Beth’s life and how she dealt with it, as I felt like that too when I was growing up, which did make me reminisce somewhat. Thank you again for the opportunity to review this wonderful book (and thank you also for the cute bag). I am now going to pass it on to someone else, so that they can discover the beauty of reading this book.
when i received my copy i was delighted with the bag and the pretty cover,this is not my usual type of book and i found the first few chapters slow going bit i persevered, i enjoyed reading about beths summers in hungary and being english myself and brought up in dorset which is the county next to devon i was familar with the area of beths childhood all the worries of growing up are there with a bigger puzzle in the background i found it quite sad in the respect that if only these people had talked to each other so much could have been shared by them all, and aunt jessica nearly everyone has a relative just like her on the whole a good read especially sitting out in the sun in the back garden i will be passsing on the book to a friend who did spend her childhood being shunted between seperated parents to see what she thinks .
Well I finished this book last night. Usually I don’t take this long to read a book but I couldn’t get into this story straight away. It was very slow to begin with.
I love the books cover, gorgeous and I loved the free environmental bag that came with it. Thanks for that Beauty and Lace.
As I said I found the story very hard to get into. But then about 1/4 of the way through I began to enjoy it and get carried along with the story. I preferred reading the parts of the story that were set in Hungary and Villa Serena, the author wrote with much more passion in these areas the parts of the story set in England were dull and boring.
I loved the freedom and earthiness that portrayed Marika and Zoltan and how that rubbed off on Erzsi after one visit. The Summer’s were wonderful and reminded me of how much fun Summer was for me too when I was growing up. And of having a first love.
But the end of the story I absolutely hated with a passion. I was so frustrated with Erzsi and how her decision took away everything, not only from her but also from Marika, Zoltan and Tamas. I was hoping that she would’ve changed her mind and honestly could not understand the Author’s thinking of making a character so shallow and uncaring. And I’m sorry but making amends with Zoltan after Marika dies doesn’t count. I was angry that she kept her relationship with her Dad alive but wiped Marika completely, when all Marika showed Erzsi was love and maternal caring. She was more of a Mum to Erzsi than her real Dad was a father.
What a great book!! I was a little unsure at first but it didn’t take long to intrigue me!
I think the author portrayed the character of Erzsi perfectly, her thoughts , her feelings, her outlook on life are all something that I can completely relate to. The things that young girls dwell on that looking back now as a 40 year old seem so unimportant. I laughed out loud at some of the Erzsi/Tamas exchanges (or rather lack of!) eg : when she would completely ignore him but be willing him to notice her with all of her being!!! Who hasn’t been there as a young girl!!
Although I loved the book, I did find it incredibly sad that Erzsi and Marika’s relationship was just severed so completely after them having grown so close over the summers with Erszi living the rest of the year just waiting for those precious weeks. Maybe it is a result of the book looking at the whole situation through a teenagers eyes, the fact that the revelation brought the truth of Erzsi’s life so bluntly back. I think she had such a mundane life the rest of the year and looked forward so much to hungary and being like “her mother”, so care free and full of life that she just couldn’t comprehend the idea that she wasn’t a part of Marika and felt bitterly betrayed or maybe ashamed?. Her only way to deal with it was to pretend it never happened.
Finally, is there to be a sequel where we find out about Tamas et al??? I was left feeling that maybe we hadn’t heard the last of Erszi/Beth!!! Am I the only one???
THis book is a true delight.
To start with it took me a little to get into the book bit all of a sudden things clicked and i was away. The really interesting thing for me was that my eldest daughter had just printed of a bunch of her travel photos and delighted in showing me her photos of Hungary and blow me down…she had photos of the locations mentioned in the book so i felt an even stronger connection.
The story is a delight and takes you on the emotional journey that Erszi takes when her father delivers a package to her which contains a scrapbook that her mother had gathered together over the years and covers each year that Erszi had spent with her in Hungary. As Erszi’z parents had parted ways and she was living with her father in england so would spend a few weeks each year with her mother. Now that her mother has passed away and Erszi has the scrapbook she is taken back through the years one by one as she views the photos that her mother had collected. Memories of her first kiss and the emotions she felt over the boy.
I found this to be a wonderful book and very much showed you the world from a young teens outlook.
Its ceartainly one that i would suggest you read and persist with as once it captures you as im sure it will then you will find you hunger to know what will happen next.
I loved the cover of this book – it’s so pretty and it was lovely to come in a matching bag, which will come in handy to carry my books around in. I was looking forward to reading this book, but once I started I actually found it really hard to read. I just couldn’t get into it because I couldn’t work out what it was all about. I didn’t really care about each separate summer story because I couldn’t see the link. I had to force myself to finish the book for this review, but if I didn’t have to review it, I’m not sure that the book would have ever been finished. At the end of the book, however, the stories all come together and I ended up thinking it was a really beautiful story. I now want to go back and read it again, with a new understanding about the ‘secret’ for the book. I’m really glad that I persisted and thank you to Beauty and Lace for ‘encouraging’ me to read something that I would have just normally left >:o)
I love the title of this book and the cover was very pretty. The calico bag that it was presented in was a nice surprise,that I now regularly use as a library bag.:)
I also was really looking forward to reading this book as the blurb sounded so good and addictive. But, sadly as other people have already mentioned, I found this book difficult to read.
I persisted with this book and occasionally enjoyed reading about the summer secrets,lies and truths. But honestly this book wasn’t my cup of tea and often found myself bored or sleepy after reading a chapter or two.