The Girls of Summer
Release Date: June 6, 2023
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
"That place has been my whole life. Everything I thought I knew about myself was constructed in those few months I spent within touching distance of the sea. Everything I am is because Alistair loved me."
Rachel has been in love with Alistair for fifteen years. Even though she’s now married to someone else. Even though she was a teenager when they met. Even though he is twenty years older than her.
Rachel and Alistair’s summer love affair on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island has consumed her since she was seventeen, obliterating everything in its wake. But as Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with reliving the events of so long ago, she reconnects with the other girls who were similarly drawn to life on the island, where the nights were long, the alcohol was free-flowing and everyone acted in ways they never would at home. And as she does so, dark and deeply suppressed secrets about her first love affair begin to rise to the surface, as well as the truth about her time working for an enigmatic and wealthy man, who controlled so much more than she could have ever realized.
Joining a post #MeToo discourse, The Girls of Summer grapples with themes of power, sex, and consent, as it explores the complicated nature of memory and trauma––and what it takes to reframe, and reclaim, your own story.
Katie Bishop
AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST
Debut novel
THE GIRLS OF SUMMER publishing with Penguin Random House, Transworld (UK) and Macmillan, St. Martin's Press (US), 2023.
Journalism published by The New York Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the BBC, VOGUE, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29, Stylist, Business Insider and many others.
Every time she thinks back to that summer, she revels in all her special moments with Alistair, he was her first love, her only true love. Or so she thinks. As she returns to that Greek island with her husband Tom she begins to slip back into old thoughts, and starts to obsess over the man who owns her heart. Then she runs into an old friend from her time there years ago, and it becomes clear to her that maybe she isn't as happy with her life as she thought she was...
The Girls of Summer is an captivating and well written suspense novel that is bound to rattle you in all the best of ways. It's story line is a little on the darker side and some readers should read with caution as it deals with some tough subject matter. I quickly found myself enamored by the main character Rachel, as the story unfolds you will see that the man she has spent half of her life loving isn't quite the man she thought he was, and that their story book romance wasn't so sweet either. This young woman was used and mistreated and it's taken an emotional toll on her, one she didn't realize was happening... it was impossible not to feel for her.
As I was reading this one I had trouble believing it was a debut novel, as it was so well written and believable. Bravo to the author, definitely one of the best new reads I have settled down with this year!! Highly recommend!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.
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