The Summer House
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Product Description
Review
Praise for Marcia Willett
"Like Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy, Willett creates such fully dimensional characters that readers feel as if they should phone or e-mail them to keep in touch."
---"Rocky Mountain News" on "A Week in Winter"""
"Tender and moving, Willet's tale expertly weaves a family's past and present together to illustrate the strength of familial bonds. A memorable and emotional read to be savored."
---"RT Book Reviews "on "The Children's Hour"
"Readers will enjoy the heartwarming ending, vibrant characters, and the excellent depiction of the English countryside."
---"Booklist" (starred review) on "A Summer in the Country"
"Thoroughly engrossing, with richly drawn characters, a mysterious locale, and a beautifully crafted plot."
---"The Sun-Sentinel" (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) on "A Week in Winter"
" "
"A domestic novel of quiet yearning, haunting memories and onerous guilt. The friendships at the novel's heart are believable and warming."
---"Publishers Weekly" on "The Way We Were"
"
""Wonderfully, fully-developed protagonists...fans will be pleased with this strong family drama."
---"Midwest Book Review" on "The Birdcage"
Book Description
The poignant new novel from this well-loved author
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Summer House is a splendid new novel by one of my favorite current authors. It is the story of a highly successful and unusual family, brought together both by love and necessity. I do not want to give away the plot, so I will not summarize it here.
What I do want to talk about in this review is the excellence of the writing. For the first time in a while, there are no flashbacks in this novel, and I welcome this change. While I love all of Marcia Willett's books, I have to confess that I can find the flashbacks in many of her recent works to be irritating, particularly because they are all written in the present tense as a mechanism for distinquishing them from the contemporary portions of the books. (In The Prodigal Wife, the flasbacks were also repetitive of material in the earlier trilogy.) Obviously there is room for disagreement on this, but this is my opinion.
The absence of flashbacks also enabled this novel to proceed smoothly and seamlessly, something else I welcomed as making it more like Ms Willett's earlier novels. I spent the day reading the book (finishing it, alas, which means that I have to wait a whole year for the next one). The writing was elegant and clear, and the book was better copy-edited than some of its immediate predecessors so there were fewer typographical errors.
In short, this is a terrific book for Ms Willett's fans and for those new to her work. Indeed, for those who have not been fortunate enough to encounter Ms Willett's books before now, this is a superb entry into her novels: beautifully written, fine plot, excellent all around.
What I do want to talk about in this review is the excellence of the writing. For the first time in a while, there are no flashbacks in this novel, and I welcome this change. While I love all of Marcia Willett's books, I have to confess that I can find the flashbacks in many of her recent works to be irritating, particularly because they are all written in the present tense as a mechanism for distinquishing them from the contemporary portions of the books. (In The Prodigal Wife, the flasbacks were also repetitive of material in the earlier trilogy.) Obviously there is room for disagreement on this, but this is my opinion.
The absence of flashbacks also enabled this novel to proceed smoothly and seamlessly, something else I welcomed as making it more like Ms Willett's earlier novels. I spent the day reading the book (finishing it, alas, which means that I have to wait a whole year for the next one). The writing was elegant and clear, and the book was better copy-edited than some of its immediate predecessors so there were fewer typographical errors.
In short, this is a terrific book for Ms Willett's fans and for those new to her work. Indeed, for those who have not been fortunate enough to encounter Ms Willett's books before now, this is a superb entry into her novels: beautifully written, fine plot, excellent all around.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having greatly enjoyed all Marcia Willett's novels, I had eagerly awaited this release. The first few pages left me somewhat disappointed; here was the same old story - the beloved country home spanning several generations, with virtually the same old family members by different names, and with the same old predicaments to overcome.
But gradually a new theme emerged, unfolding a mystery around the childhood of one of the characters. Although the denouement was fairly predictable, it still held my interest sufficiently for me to want to read on . . . and on . . . to the not very surprising end.
This is a cosy novel, in the typical Marcia Wlllett mould, easy to read, a relaxing break from my recent more demanding, thought-provoking literature.
But gradually a new theme emerged, unfolding a mystery around the childhood of one of the characters. Although the denouement was fairly predictable, it still held my interest sufficiently for me to want to read on . . . and on . . . to the not very surprising end.
This is a cosy novel, in the typical Marcia Wlllett mould, easy to read, a relaxing break from my recent more demanding, thought-provoking literature.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Summer House was not quite what I was expecting, from reading the blurb I thought there was going to a be a lot of mystery, suspense and intrigue leading up to the revealation however, I felt that there was only a small amount of this. The majority of the story actually follows Matt's family and friends including his sister Imogen's story maybe slightly more so than Matt's which I wasn't expecting. It isn't until near the end of the book that Matt becomes a much more prominent character as we learn what has happened to him previously and the effect that it has had on him. I personally felt that a bigger lead up to Matt discovering what has happened in the past was needed as I felt like we following several other characters stories first and then it suddenly went on to Matt's.
Overall, although it wasn't quite what I was expecting, I did enjoy this book and thought it was well written, the scenary was described perfectly so much so that you could imagine yourself there and there were some good, likeable characters throughout.
Overall, although it wasn't quite what I was expecting, I did enjoy this book and thought it was well written, the scenary was described perfectly so much so that you could imagine yourself there and there were some good, likeable characters throughout.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Secret Memories
Matt has been left a small box where his late mother kept memories of his childhood. He remembers vividly putting small items into the box and locking them securely away. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Joanne D'Arcy
The Summer House
I have read other novels by Marcia Willett and was not disappointed by this one. Good story as the way through. Would recommend this book.
Published 6 months ago by cm53
wish i had not read it
well wish i had not read it so quickly a lovely story thought i had read them all then found this one
Published 9 months ago by hev
The Summer House
Oh, the danger of being seduced by good reviews! I was looking for a follow up author to the wonderful Mary Sheepshanks, and Marcia Willett seemed to fit the bill. Oh, dear. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Anthea
Utterly believable
As usual, Marcia Willett's characters draw you in, until you forget that they are actually not real. A wonderful read which is over, alas, way too soon.
Published 10 months ago by L. Marianne
The Summer House
We spend some time in North Devon and my wife is a great fan of Marcia Willett, who writes her novels based in North Devon! Read more
Published 11 months ago by F. L. Lewis
always a good read
I have all of Marcia Willitts books and i knew i would not be dissapointed with the latest one "Summer House". Read more
Published 11 months ago by Margaret T
A confusing book
Although I enjoyed reading this book, I did at times find it a bit confusing, trying to work out the relationships between the characters. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mrs. G. E. Thompson
The Summer House
Marcia Willett is an excellent author and I love her description of nature particularly, and her style of writing. Read more
Published 19 months ago by P. M. Stevenson
beautifully written
This is the first book I have read by this author. I did enjoy it. I would love to live in a beautiful place full of nature as is very skilfully described here. Read more
Published 20 months ago by elsie purdon
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