"Disappearances, death and deceit unravelling in a summer of first love and family secrets"
Compelling, surprising and complex, this will not disappoint the many fans of best-selling Emily Barr, who has become renowned for her twisty, psychological page turners ever since her Carnegie nominated debut, The One Memory of Flora Banks.
Set in a beautifully evocative Cornwall and across three different decades: the 1940's, the 1980's and the present day, with each time frame covering a generation of the family living at the grand, isolated Cliff House, which has come to symbolise wealth, privilege and absentee owners for the present-day local teens.
One character spans the whole time period, and it is really Martha’s story that our heroine Senara gradually discovers. She came to Cliff House as an evacuee in 1940 and now in her nineties remains as the sole inhabitant unless the family decide to visit for the summer. But it was the 1980’s generation that included Senara’s mother which had the most to hide and the most to lose and the ramifications of their regrettable decisions split families and sundered friendships and lovers.
The multiple narrators and time frames are skilfully handled and the reader becomes entirely engrossed in the lives of these characters and kept guessing about what secrets are to be revealed. The underlying elements of class conflict and privilege versus poverty adds subtlety and nuance to the relationships in every generation and a definite flavour of authenticity to the Cornish setting.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Other Genres: |
One hot summer, first love, so many buried secrets . . .
Senara has never been in love before. She's not done anything exciting before. Always the sidekick . . . Until the summer that changes everything.
Cliff House is closed off for most of the year until its rich Londoner owners come down to Cornwall for the summer. This year, despite herself, Senara finds herself pulled into this world of wealth and ease, sunbathing and beautiful people. She even finds herself falling in love for the first time.
But Cliff House and its owners are hiding things. They've been hiding things for too long and now, despite all their efforts, their secrets are coming out . . . Secrets that involve Senara's friends and her family in a way she could never have imagined.
A bold new story for fans of We Were Liars, intertwining past and present, love and loss, from the bestselling author of The One Memory of Flora Banks
This Summer's Secrets features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Thrillers / suspense, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Relationship stories, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Crime and mystery fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Action and adventure stories, Fiction: narrative themes, Fiction
This Summer's Secrets is available in Paperback
This Summer's Secrets was written by Emily Barr and published by Penguin Books Ltd an imprint of Penguin Random House Children's UK
This Summer's Secrets has 421 pages
£8.09
