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My Summer of Love
 
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My Summer of Love (Paperback)

by Helen Cross (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (3 Jun 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747557829
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747557821
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 153,070 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
In her debut novel, My Summer of Love, Helen Cross has crafted a highly original and often shocking tale of two 15-year-olds spending one long, hot summer together. Mona is a heavy drinker, a fruit-machine addict and aspiring criminal, while Tamsin is a spoilt, rich girl, living in her parents' luxurious country home on the posh side of town. Although hailing from opposite ends of the social spectrum, both girls are victims of parental break-ups as well as, it would seem, suffering recent bereavements. When Tamsin's parents are away, Mona moves in and together the girls embark upon a wild relationship that is both beautifully romantic and shockingly violent. Set against the backdrop of a Yorkshire town in 1984, the text is seasoned with well-chosen motifs of the period: references to the miners' strike, the fear of nuclear attack, New Romantic fashions and the spectre of a serial killer on the loose.

It is this authenticity and humanity that separates this novel from other familiar coming-of-age tales. While novels covering this ground are often refracted through a lens of cosy, middle-aged nostalgia, My Summer of Love doesn't flinch from communicating the sheer awfulness of the girls' antics. As disturbing as the denouement is, the whole story is shot through with a black humour that, while not diminishing the sense of horror, conveys the teenage condition in all its embarrassing absurdity. Mona's obsession with removing bodily hair, Tamsin's weird culinary concoctions and their drunken attempts at dancing all rekindle cringe-inducing recollections of that period in your lives. Disturbing and funny in equal measure, Cross has succeeded in creating two vibrant and distinctive characters who linger in our memory long after the last page has been read. --Jane Morris --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
1984 and 15-year-old Mona is a drinker, a thief and a fruit machine addict. Things are going badly in the pub where she lives with her obese step-brother but when she meets posh Tamsin, a sassy girl with beautiful breasts, an actress mother and a sister who dies of starvation, things quickly get very much worse.A highly charged and critically acclaimed debut novel.

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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Teenage angst, 30 Nov 2002
By kimbofo (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
Set in Yorkshire, Cross's novel explores the strange and terrifying world of two teenage girls who spend the summer of 1984 hanging out together. Mona is 15 and lives in a pub with her father and his girlfriend, Cleo, and Cleo's son, Porkchop. Struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother the year before, Mona's self-esteem is virtually zero. She gets through her days drinking vodka and other spirits on the sly, playing fruit machines, doing the odd bit of thieving and dreaming of "sexual allure". When she meets Tamsin, a spoilt rich girl whose sister recently died of anorexia, she finds the friend she has been so desperately looking for. While coming from opposite ends of the spectrum, the two girls forge a relationship based on alcohol, eating disorders and shared grief. It's a weird friendship, bordering on the obsessional, and it soon becomes clear that they are not only a danger to themselves but to the safety of others outside their delusional realm. I'm still not sure whether I liked this book or not. It is certainly very dark and sometimes comic. But it's the girls' relationship - twisted in a "Heavenly Creatures" kind of way - which is the most disturbing. Aside from this, Cross has done a superb job in recreating the 1980s, and the description of the sizzling summer and the Yorkshire market town in which Mona lives is so evocative you can almost smell the rawhide factory and feel the sun's burning heat.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, 27 Jun 2007
This review is from: My Summer of Love (Paperback)
I read this after reading Helen Cross's second book, The Secrets She Keeps, which I really loved. This is great too. It's beautifully written, full of dreamy images, humour, deftly drawn characters and stays with you long after you've finished it.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Strangely Haunting, 7 May 2003
By A Customer
This was a strange book. There's no doubt that Helen Cross can write and the idea for the story was a good one, that certainly intrigued me and kept me reading until the end. I didn't think it was as shocking as 'Clockwork Orange' though, infact in some ways the violence seemed tame, but maybe I've been watching too much TV!
However, having said all that, I find myself strangely haunted by the book and some of the scenes. The hot summer really pervaded every page, adding to the sense of oppression and imminent disaster. So although it had its faults, on the whole it was well-written and I enjoyed it (I think!!)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars not great
I wouldn't want to go to the pub with the author, she would talk about how many calories there are in a pint. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Bean

4.0 out of 5 stars Watch film first, then read this.
I don't think without the imagery of the film I would have gotten into the book, it really helped me imagine the characters even though some are very different than in the film or... Read more
Published 5 months ago by H. Flynn

4.0 out of 5 stars Tension and fear in teenageland
A very grim tale of two 15 year old girls going mad together. It's normal for teenagers to be bored, especially if you live some place small. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Lou Ice

4.0 out of 5 stars Girls are scary
A compulsive read. Although one review said that it was similar in style and menace to A Clockwork Orange, I thought it not as threatening or shocking for much of the book, rather... Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2003 by Stewart

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull, dull, dull
I rarely give up on a book but after 80 pages of this I was rapidly loosing the will to live let alone turn another page! Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2002 by Lendrick

5.0 out of 5 stars wicked, funny, smart and sexy, perfect for summer
I loved this so much! It's so accurate about girls and how they are, and it's so funny too. I also thought it really good that the book is set in the NOrth of England where I live... Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable first novel
This is a remarkable first novel. Its crafted structure will repay careful reading and rereading. The author maintains a tension throughout and there is a good deal of humour,... Read more
Published on 6 April 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic - thrilling, scary, couldnt' put it down
Brilliantly written in East Yorkshire slang. Great references to the town that Helen was brought up in (I went to school with her). Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing, Memorable
The book began with so much gritty northern scenery and teenage angst. So far, so OK. Soon after, I found myself pulled into the story and, unsentimentally, caring very much... Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2001 by Malcolm Wilson

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for Summer
I found My Summer of Love a gripping and macabre read. The portrayal of the two wild all-drinking, all-disco dancing teenage girls is deeply disturbing but so, so real. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2001

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