They have lost everything but each other. When Grace Hooper, on the verge of womanhood, and her nine-year-old brother Billy are left orphaned by a freak accident at the beginning of a long, hot summer, they find themselves cast adrift from their old life and numb with grief. Sent to stay with their estranged grandfather on the remote farm where their mother grew up, there they must try to uncover a new understanding of the world and their place in it. But in the relentless heat and the unnatural calm of the near-deserted farm, nature itself soon becomes both enemy and ally - and as the bond between brother and sister disintegrates, Grace discovers that the farm hosts a tragic past and an uncertain future. At once disturbing and compelling, Summer is a beautifully written and deeply atmospheric exploration of loss and regeneration.
Summer
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Tom Darling's thoughtful second novel leads the reader into a terrain of trauma, beyond the urban world's amenities...Summer...stands as a deeply felt parable about children who fall outside the social net. (Stevie Davies Guardian 20120128)
Nature is always ready to turn nasty in Darling's twisted pastoral tale of two children stranded on a remote English farm after the death of their parents...As their grandfather sinks ever further into solitary nightmares of burning cattle, Grace and (especially) Billy run wild. Darling chronicles their slow descent towards a state of nature and their eventual rescue from it in exact and compellingly sensuous prose. (Sunday Times 20120115)
Summer is a magnificent and spellbinding novel; emotional, powerful, intense and undeniably stirring and deserves lavish acclaim. (Bord Gais Energy Bookclub ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Nature is always ready to turn nasty in Darling's twisted pastoral tale of two children stranded on a remote English farm after the death of their parents...As their grandfather sinks ever further into solitary nightmares of burning cattle, Grace and (especially) Billy run wild. Darling chronicles their slow descent towards a state of nature and their eventual rescue from it in exact and compellingly sensuous prose. (Sunday Times 20120115)
Summer is a magnificent and spellbinding novel; emotional, powerful, intense and undeniably stirring and deserves lavish acclaim. (Bord Gais Energy Bookclub ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Book Description
* An engrossing portrait of an extraordinary summer on a remote farm endured by two recently orphaned children - a stunning novel by a real talent
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read Tom Darling's 'Summer' in a single day. I did not mean to but could not put it down. It has a strong narrative drive but but the action is small scale. In itself that is the appeal of the book. It deals with the interplay of life's opposites. The light and dust of the harvest are set against the dark and shade of the barn and the old farmhouse. The kindness of strangers balances the pportunistic or petty viciousness of others. Death provides the background against which the young Billy and his older sister cope with bereavement and move towards new life.
Tom Darling understands the sounds sights and smells of the countryside and his writing about it is brilliant without ever falling into sentimentality.
Above all I admired the structure of the book, For those who have had enough of the sprawling self indulgent blockbusters of the Jonathan Franzen school this is a very welcome approach. Much more like Justin Cartwright.
This is a highly accomplished work and also a very good read. I doubt if I will find another novel this good in 2012
William Barr
Tom Darling understands the sounds sights and smells of the countryside and his writing about it is brilliant without ever falling into sentimentality.
Above all I admired the structure of the book, For those who have had enough of the sprawling self indulgent blockbusters of the Jonathan Franzen school this is a very welcome approach. Much more like Justin Cartwright.
This is a highly accomplished work and also a very good read. I doubt if I will find another novel this good in 2012
William Barr
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
1 review
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it!
19 Sep 2012
By Anna Karenina
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
FIVE STARS!!
This book is an elegantly written and highly visual treat.
The character exploration of the two children as they struggle with the tragic and sudden loss of their parents was delicately executed, and the following events resulting in their being on their grandfather's deserted farm for the remainder of the book, both sympathetic and believable.
The characters themselves, despite their growing isolation, seemed very real and alive to me. There were more than several times during the book where I identified so closely with some of the ponderings of the young girl, it felt like the author had entered my head and plucked out thoughts that I had previously considered solely my own idiosyncratic musings! Both a reassuring and somewhat unnerving experience!
Although relatively new (in my adult life) to literary fiction, I was engrossed in this book from the beginning. Unusually for me, at no point did I experience the all too common struggle to labour through those sporadic paragraphs / pages that crop up in otherwise enjoyable books, sapping your concentration and enthusiasm for the matter at hand and forcing one to repeat the paragraphs until it picks up on its way again. This book is compelling from start to finish and the ultimate testament to `Summer' for me is the fact that I missed my train stop when I took it onto public transport with me, so engrossed I was in the prose and moment - something if you knew me would know that this doesn't happen!
It has inspired me to do some exploring of my own and read this genre of writing more often.
I would be happy to recommend it to anyone and look forward to the next treat Tom Darling has in store.
This book is an elegantly written and highly visual treat.
The character exploration of the two children as they struggle with the tragic and sudden loss of their parents was delicately executed, and the following events resulting in their being on their grandfather's deserted farm for the remainder of the book, both sympathetic and believable.
The characters themselves, despite their growing isolation, seemed very real and alive to me. There were more than several times during the book where I identified so closely with some of the ponderings of the young girl, it felt like the author had entered my head and plucked out thoughts that I had previously considered solely my own idiosyncratic musings! Both a reassuring and somewhat unnerving experience!
Although relatively new (in my adult life) to literary fiction, I was engrossed in this book from the beginning. Unusually for me, at no point did I experience the all too common struggle to labour through those sporadic paragraphs / pages that crop up in otherwise enjoyable books, sapping your concentration and enthusiasm for the matter at hand and forcing one to repeat the paragraphs until it picks up on its way again. This book is compelling from start to finish and the ultimate testament to `Summer' for me is the fact that I missed my train stop when I took it onto public transport with me, so engrossed I was in the prose and moment - something if you knew me would know that this doesn't happen!
It has inspired me to do some exploring of my own and read this genre of writing more often.
I would be happy to recommend it to anyone and look forward to the next treat Tom Darling has in store.
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