Summertime by Vanessa Lafaye

Summertime

by Vanessa Lafaye

Florida, 1935. Heron Key is a small town 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, the Kincaid family's maid and nanny, feels that she has wasted her life pining for Henry, whom she has not seen since he went to fight on the battlefields of France in WWI. Now he has returned with a group of other desperate, destitute veterans on a government works project, unsure of his future, ashamed of his past.

When a white woman is found beaten nearly to death in the early hours, suspicion falls on Henry. Old grievances and prejudices threaten to derail the investigation. As the tensions rise, the barometer starts to plummet. The residents think they're ready, and so do the soldiers. They are wrong. Nothing in their experience could prepare them for what is coming. For far out over the Atlantic, the greatest storm ever to strike North America is heading their way...

Based on real events, Summertime is a stunning debut novel, a glorious love story and a mesmerizing account of survival. It evokes vividly what happens when people in a small community are tested to the absolute limits of their endurance.

Reviewed by Leah on

4 of 5 stars

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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/

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  • Started reading
  • 13 January, 2015: Finished reading
  • 13 January, 2015: Reviewed