The Summer Before the War
A Novel
(Sprache: Englisch)
In the summer of 1914, Beatrice Nash, a young woman of good family, arrives in a small English town to teach Latin in the local school. She and the nephew of her sponsor fall in love. Surrounding them is a vibrant, colorful cast of characters with whom the...
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In the summer of 1914, Beatrice Nash, a young woman of good family, arrives in a small English town to teach Latin in the local school. She and the nephew of her sponsor fall in love. Surrounding them is a vibrant, colorful cast of characters with whom the reader will fall in love. As in Jane Austen, social and domestic dramas and subplots abound, until all pales in the shadow of the Great War.
Klappentext zu „The Summer Before the War “
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A novel to cure your Downton Abbey withdrawal . . . a delightful story about nontraditional romantic relationships, class snobbery and the everybody-knows-everybody complications of living in a small community. The Washington PostThe bestselling author of Major Pettigrew s Last Stand returns with a breathtaking novel of love on the eve of World War I that reaches far beyond the small English town in which it is set.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND NPR
East Sussex, 1914. It is the end of England s brief Edwardian summer, and everyone agrees that the weather has never been so beautiful. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his Aunt Agatha, who lives with her husband in the small, idyllic coastal town of Rye. Agatha s husband works in the Foreign Office, and she is certain he will ensure that the recent saber rattling over the Balkans won t come to anything. And Agatha has more immediate concerns; she has just risked her carefully built reputation by pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master.
When Beatrice Nash arrives with one trunk and several large crates of books, it is clear she is significantly more freethinking and attractive than anyone believes a Latin teacher should be. For her part, mourning the death of her beloved father, who has left her penniless, Beatrice simply wants to be left alone to pursue her teaching and writing.
But just as Beatrice comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape and the colorful characters who populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For despite Agatha s reassurances, the unimaginable is coming. Soon the limits of progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small Sussex town and its inhabitants go to war.
Praise for The Summer Before the War
What begins as a study of a small-town society becomes a compelling account of war and its
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aftermath. Woman s Day
This witty character study of how a small English town reacts to the 1914 arrival of its first female teacher offers gentle humor wrapped in a hauntingly detailed story. Good Housekeeping
Perfect for readers in a post Downton Abbey slump . . . The gently teasing banter between two kindred spirits edging slowly into love is as delicately crafted as a bone-china teacup. . . . More than a high-toned romantic reverie for Anglophiles though it serves the latter purpose, too. The Seattle Times
This witty character study of how a small English town reacts to the 1914 arrival of its first female teacher offers gentle humor wrapped in a hauntingly detailed story. Good Housekeeping
Perfect for readers in a post Downton Abbey slump . . . The gently teasing banter between two kindred spirits edging slowly into love is as delicately crafted as a bone-china teacup. . . . More than a high-toned romantic reverie for Anglophiles though it serves the latter purpose, too. The Seattle Times
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Lese-Probe zu „The Summer Before the War “
Chapter OneThe town of Rye rose from the flat marshes like an island, its tumbled pyramid of red-tiled roofs glowing in the slanting evening light. The high Sussex bluffs were a massive, unbroken line of shadow from east to west, the fields breathed out the heat of the day, and the sea was a sheet of hammered pewter. Standing at the tall French windows, Hugh Grange held his breath in a vain attempt to suspend the moment in time as he used to do when he was a little boy, in this same, slightly shabby drawing room, and the lighting of the lamps had been the signal for his aunt to send him to bed. He smiled now to think of how long and late those summer evenings had run and how he had always complained bitterly until he was allowed to stay up well beyond bedtime. Small boys, he now knew, were inveterate fraudsters and begged, pleaded, and cajoled for added rights and treats with innocent eyes and black hearts.
The three boys his aunt had asked him to tutor this summer had relieved him of half a sovereign and most of his books before he realized that they neither were as hungry as their sighs proposed nor had any interest in Ivanhoe except for what it might bring when flogged to the man with the secondhand bookstall in the town market. He held no grudge. Instead he admired their ferret wits and held some small dream that his brief teaching and example might turn sharpness into some intellectual curiosity by the time the grammar school began again.
The door to the drawing room was opened with a robust hand, and Hugh s cousin, Daniel, stood back with a mock bow to allow their Aunt Agatha to pass into the room. Aunt Agatha says there isn t going to be a war, said Daniel, coming in behind her, laughing. And so of course there won t be. They would never dream of defying her. Aunt Agatha tried to look severe but only managed to cross her eyes and almost stumbled into a side table due to the sudden blurring of her vision.
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That isn t what I said at all, she said, trying to secure her long embroidered scarf, an effort as futile as resting a flat kite on a round boulder, thought Hugh, as the scarf immediately began to slide sideways again. Aunt Agatha was still a handsome woman at forty-five, but she was inclined to stoutness and had very few sharp planes on which to drape her clothing. Tonight s dinner dress, in slippery chiffon, possessed a deep, sloppy neckline and long Oriental sleeves. Hugh hoped it would maintain its dignity through dinner, for his aunt liked to embellish her conversation with expansive gestures.
What does Uncle John say? asked Hugh, stepping to a tray of decanters to pour his aunt her usual glass of Madeira. No chance he s coming down tomorrow? He had hoped to ask his uncle s opinion on a smaller but no less important subject. After years devoted to his medical studies, Hugh found himself not only on the point of becoming primary assistant surgeon to Sir Alex Ramsey, one of England s leading general surgeons, but also quite possibly in love with his surgeon s very pretty daughter, Lucy. He had held rather aloof from Lucy the past year, perhaps to prove to himself, and others, that his affection for her was not connected to any hopes of advancement. This had only made him a favorite of hers among the various students and younger doctors who flocked around her father, but it was not until this summer, when she and her father left for an extended lecture tour in the Italian Lakes, that he had felt a pleasurable misery in her absence. He found he missed her dancing eyes, the toss of her pale hair as she laughed at some dry comment he made; he even missed the little spectacles she wore to copy her father s case files or reply to his voluminous correspondence. She was fresh from the schoolroom and sometimes distr
What does Uncle John say? asked Hugh, stepping to a tray of decanters to pour his aunt her usual glass of Madeira. No chance he s coming down tomorrow? He had hoped to ask his uncle s opinion on a smaller but no less important subject. After years devoted to his medical studies, Hugh found himself not only on the point of becoming primary assistant surgeon to Sir Alex Ramsey, one of England s leading general surgeons, but also quite possibly in love with his surgeon s very pretty daughter, Lucy. He had held rather aloof from Lucy the past year, perhaps to prove to himself, and others, that his affection for her was not connected to any hopes of advancement. This had only made him a favorite of hers among the various students and younger doctors who flocked around her father, but it was not until this summer, when she and her father left for an extended lecture tour in the Italian Lakes, that he had felt a pleasurable misery in her absence. He found he missed her dancing eyes, the toss of her pale hair as she laughed at some dry comment he made; he even missed the little spectacles she wore to copy her father s case files or reply to his voluminous correspondence. She was fresh from the schoolroom and sometimes distr
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Autoren-Porträt von Helen Simonson
Helen Simonson was born in England and spent her teenage years in a small village in East Sussex. A graduate of the London School of Economics, she has spent the last three decades in the United States and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Simonson is married, with two grown sons, and is the author of the New York Times bestselling debut novel Major Pettigrew s Last Stand. This is her second novel.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Helen Simonson
- 2017, 512 Seiten, Masse: 13,1 x 20,2 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Random House Trade Paperbacks
- ISBN-10: 0812983203
- ISBN-13: 9780812983203
- Erscheinungsdatum: 03.02.2017
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
A novel to cure your Downton Abbey withdrawal . . . a delightful story about nontraditional romantic relationships, class snobbery and the everybody-knows-everybody complications of living in a small community. The Washington PostWhat begins as a study of a small-town society becomes a compelling account of war and its aftermath. Woman s Day
This witty character study of how a small English town reacts to the 1914 arrival of its first female teacher offers gentle humor wrapped in a hauntingly detailed story. Good Housekeeping
Perfect for readers in a post Downton Abbey slump . . . The gently teasing banter between two kindred spirits edging slowly into love is as delicately crafted as a bone-china teacup. . . . More than a high-toned romantic reverie for Anglophiles though it serves the latter purpose, too. The Seattle Times
[Helen Simonson s] characters are so vivid, it s as if a PBS series has come to life. There s scandal, star-crossed love and fear, but at its heart, The Summer Before the War is about loyalty, love and family. AARP: The Magazine
At once haunting and effervescent, The Summer Before the War demonstrates the sure hand of a master. Helen Simonson s characters enchant us, her English countryside beguiles us, and her historical intelligence keeps us at the edge of our seats. This luminous story of a family, a town, and a world in their final moments of innocence is as lingering and lovely as a long summer sunset. Annie Barrows, author of The Truth According to Us and co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Helen Simonson has outdone herself in this radiant follow-up to Major Pettigrew s Last Stand. The provincial town of Rye, East Sussex, in the days just before and after the Great War is so vividly drawn it fairly vibrates. The depth and sensitivity with which she weighs the steep costs and delicate bonds of
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wartime and not just for the young men in the trenches, but for every changed life and heart reveal the full mastery of her storytelling. Simonson is like a Jane Austen for our day and age she is that good and The Summer Before the War is nothing short of a treasure. Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun
A bright confection of a book morphs into a story of dignity and backbone. . . . This book is beautifully plotted and morally astute. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Simonson s second novel paints a sensitive, witty, luminous portrait of England at the outbreak of World War I. Shelf Awareness
This novel is just the ticket for fans of Simonson s debut, Major Pettigrew s Last Stand, and for any reader who enjoys leisurely fiction steeped in the British past. Booklist
A bright confection of a book morphs into a story of dignity and backbone. . . . This book is beautifully plotted and morally astute. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Simonson s second novel paints a sensitive, witty, luminous portrait of England at the outbreak of World War I. Shelf Awareness
This novel is just the ticket for fans of Simonson s debut, Major Pettigrew s Last Stand, and for any reader who enjoys leisurely fiction steeped in the British past. Booklist
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