Summer Heat

LoveReading Says

Evoking all the complications of lust, love, family relationships, and personal and national conflict (namely, the Turkish army’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974), readers who relish novels centred on complex protagonists with self-destructive traits, tangled relationships and complex family bonds will be 100% immersed in Defne Suman’s Summer Heat. It’s shot-through with a sharp edge of honesty as a woman on the cusp of her fortieth birthday comes to find the deepest kind of connection through the deepest dislocation. 

With a loving husband, art historian Melike has just resolved to break her habit of having serial affairs when Petros, a documentary maker, asks her to give him a tour of Istanbul's Byzantine churches. But the chemistry between them is intense — they can’t resist one another — and Melike’s resolve is immediately broken. At the same time, when Melike discovers Petros’ ulterior motive for contacting her and a tangled web of family secrets is exposed, she embarks on a transformative journey to Cyprus in his company.

As the narrative slips between 2003 and 1974, accounts of the past and Melike’s internal reassessment of past events shift back and forth in fluid waves, emulating the turmoil of her discoveries — especially those around her estranged father — and her heart.  

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

About Summer Heat

'Vivid, evocative and tender.' Elif Shafak'In our family, secrets were buried deep like treasure, never to be spoken of...'1974. Melike should be happy: school is shut and her parents have stopped hosting parties for their rowdy political friends. But she's scared. She can tell from her parents' urgent whispers about prison, invasion and military coups that Istanbul is changing. So when the family relocate to a quaint village in the south, Melike is hopeful life might get better. And for a while, it does. But then her beloved father disappears...2003. Nearly three decades have passed, and Melike has done her best to move on. But despite her successful career as an art historian and a husband who adores her, she has always felt a lingering discontent. When she meets mysterious - and extremely handsome - stranger Petro, Melike feels her fortunes changing. But Petro isn't who he says he is. And when Melike uncovers his true identity, she also lays bare a lifetime of hidden pasts...With a backdrop of the Turkish army's occupation of Cyprus in 1974, Summer Heat explores family secrets, tangled identities and one woman's place in her country's devastating history.

Read the full description

Find This Book In