The Book of Summer

Often on long road trips particularly at night I've driven past houses and wondered what stories are contained within each of their respective four walls. Sounds a bit weird but every house has its stories to tell.

In this gripping story The Book of Summer by American author Michelle Gable there are certainly a lot of tales to tell.

This book centres around the almost 100-year-old homestead Cliff House perched on a cliff on the island of Nantucket and its guest book aka The Book of Summer. The cliff is eroding and soon Cliff House will be no longer but its owner Cissy Codman is not letting her home and its history go without a fight. Her daughter Bess returns home to try to convince her mother that she must leave before she ends up going with the house.

The book flicks between the 1940s pre and post World War II and the present day and also contains many entries in The Book of Summer.  Features of this book include a myriad of characters, many stories, and brilliant storytelling. If you enjoyed the Australian television series A Place To Call Home chances are you will enjoy this book.

Now I'm off to read a book which doesn't contain the word Summer in its title, given that the last three books I've read have.    

Sixty Summers

Three friends, who are all turning 60, relive their 20s by going on a road trip across parts of Europe. What could possibly go wrong? 

In the past a book like this wouldn't have grabbed my attention but this one did. Apart from the odd frustrating storyline Sixty Summers by New Zealand-born writer Amanda Hampson was a thoroughly good read. 

Reading it made me think of a friend who recently travelled various parts of the world with another friend to celebrate a big birthday. They had a T-shirt made listing the countries on the back to be ticked off as they visited them. They also had a cap emblazoned with" Kiwi Chicks on Tiki-Tour 2019". Such a creative idea and I loved seeing all the photographs she posted along the way. 

Back to the book Maggie, Fran and Rose met when they were young. Maggie and Rose live in Australia and Fran lives in the UK. They catch up with each other regularly with Fran connecting via technology. In their 20s they backpacked through Europe. Life has taken interesting turns for the trio since then with family, business and bookshop commitments. 

Forty years have passed and realising they need a break away the trio meet up in Europe to retrace the journey they took in 1978. Rose has planned the trip. They stay in more upmarket accommodation than their earlier journey and eat out but the trip is not really working. That is until Maggie spontaneously buys a clapped out van and they continue on their way.

It wasn't until I was two thirds of the way through the book that I researched the author and found out that Hampson was born in Wellington, New Zealand and now lives in Australia. 

A great story that kept my attention to the end. Four out of five stars.