Summertime

by Vanessa Lafaye

Tensions simmer as a small town, already divided by race, is torn apart by the deadliest of hurricanes . . . THE HELP meets TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in this powerfully emotional and gripping debut novel.

In the small town of Heron Key, where the relationships are as tangled as the mangrove roots in the swamp, everyone is preparing for the 4th of July barbecue, unaware that their world is about to change for ever. Missy, maid to the Kincaid family, feels she has wasted her life pining for Henry, who went to fight on the battlefields of France. Now he has returned with a group of other desperate, destitute veterans, unsure of his future, ashamed of his past.

When a white woman is found beaten nearly to death, suspicion falls on Henry. As the tensions rise, the barometer starts to plummet. But nothing can prepare them for what is coming. For far out over the Atlantic, the greatest storm ever to strike North America is heading their way...

• ISBN10: 1409155390
• ISBN13: 9781409155393
• Publish Date: 7 May 2015 (first published 15 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• Imprint: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

When I heard about Vanessa Lafaye's debut novel Summertime I thought it sounded brilliant, I read The Help a few years ago and it literally blew my mind. It was THAT good, and I've been wanting to read another novel set around that time period for a while, but it's tough to find books that you know will be good when you've barely dipped in to the genre. So I was very excited about the prospect of Summertime and really excited to read it and to see if it would live up to my expectations.

Summertime is a fictional account of an actual storm that hit Florida in the 1930s and judging by what occurs in the novel - which is fiction, I have to keep reminding myself when I think back to all the tragedies and lives lost, I don't really feel like Googling the actual event, because I'm sure it was just as devastating as the fictional one, if not more so because it actually happened whereas I am currently mourning fictional characters. In that sense, that's what makes the novel such a tough read, because you know everything you're reading about may well be fictional but it's scarily close to the truth of what actually happened back then, and it's not just the big storm that makes me sad, but also the divide, where black people weren't welcome where the white people went. Even though we've come so far since 1930 and anyone can walk down any street these days, it's still not as it should be with regards to colour, race or religion.

I really enjoyed reading Summertime. I loved all the intertwining stories and characters we got to meet, with Missy making the most impact; I loved her so much, and wished for nothing but good things for her. I hated the racial divide, obviously, but it was portrayed so well by Vanessa. And the storm... It was just devastating. It was everything I expected, but it also wasn't because it was like Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows with people dying everywhere, even characters you didn't expect and wanted to sit and weep for, but you couldn't because the story and the tragedy still wasn't over. It was sad and good all at the same time, and I don't think I'll read a more powerful or evocative novel all year, and this is a must for all historical fans, or those who loved The Help.{Leah Loves} http://leah-loves.com http://leah-loves.com/books-summertime-vanessa-lafaye/