The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson was the May 2022 title for my book club. At 500 pages in length, I listened to the audiobook skillfully narrated by Fiona Hardingham with her lovely British accent.
The story features Beatrice Nash, a highly-educated single young woman who comes to the village of Rye, East Sussex to teach Latin. She is befriended by Agatha Kent, an influential woman in the community, and her adult nephews Hugh and Daniel, who guide her through the community's social life of parties, parades, and petty disagreements.
The majority of the novel reads like an Edwardian soap opera with much focus on social class, proper behavior which leads to limiting women's abilities to control their futures, and naively glorifying the looming war. Then the story takes a sudden turn to follow key characters into battle who, of course, quickly learned that war is difficult, dangerous, and deadly.
I was satisfied with the ending, especially with the hint of a plot twist on the final page that some readers find controversial.
In several ways, this story reminded me of the British TV series Cranford with its small town setting, a society led by the 'women of a certain age' in the community, and pre-World War innocence. Yet this novel set more than 100 years ago feels relevant today as the community provided support to individuals who fled their country (Belgium) due to the early stages of World War I.
As is often the case, I appreciated this book much more after discussing it with fellow readers. We had a lively conversation about a wide range of topics and enjoyed cookies made with loose leaf Earl Gray tea to represent the many cups of tea consumed by characters in the novel.
The story features Beatrice Nash, a highly-educated single young woman who comes to the village of Rye, East Sussex to teach Latin. She is befriended by Agatha Kent, an influential woman in the community, and her adult nephews Hugh and Daniel, who guide her through the community's social life of parties, parades, and petty disagreements.
The majority of the novel reads like an Edwardian soap opera with much focus on social class, proper behavior which leads to limiting women's abilities to control their futures, and naively glorifying the looming war. Then the story takes a sudden turn to follow key characters into battle who, of course, quickly learned that war is difficult, dangerous, and deadly.
I was satisfied with the ending, especially with the hint of a plot twist on the final page that some readers find controversial.
In several ways, this story reminded me of the British TV series Cranford with its small town setting, a society led by the 'women of a certain age' in the community, and pre-World War innocence. Yet this novel set more than 100 years ago feels relevant today as the community provided support to individuals who fled their country (Belgium) due to the early stages of World War I.
As is often the case, I appreciated this book much more after discussing it with fellow readers. We had a lively conversation about a wide range of topics and enjoyed cookies made with loose leaf Earl Gray tea to represent the many cups of tea consumed by characters in the novel.
