Even if the weather doesn\u2019t show it, summer is right around the corner! Whether you\u2019re knee-deep in revision at the moment or just longing for some much-needed sunshine, get a taste of the summer months in these novels.<\/p>\n
Edith Wharton\u2019s 1917 novel raised a lot of eyebrows upon publishing, but 100 years later we\u2019re still engrossed in her story. Charity Royall, daughter of poor parents who were unable to keep her, is bored with life and needs to change it. She meets visiting Lucius Harney, who she quickly falls for and soon falls pregnant. Lucius leaves her and becomes engaged to another woman, so Charity decides to find her long-lost mother.<\/p>\n
If any author can depict a setting vivid enough to evoke seasonal memory it\u2019s F. Scott Fitzgerald. Summer is feverishly described in The Great Gatsby<\/em> too, but his self-praised greatest work Tender is the Night<\/em> is set in the French Riviera where we meet 18 year old up-and-coming actress Rosemary Hoyt. She meets Dick Diver and his beautiful wife Nicole \u201d\u201c meant to mirror F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre \u201d\u201c and is quickly taken with Dick. All cannot run smoothly in Fitzgerald\u2019s novels, but this will have you wishing you could walk the sandy beaches of France.<\/p>\n Blume found fame writing children\u2019s novels but dived into adult writing with Summer Sisters<\/em> being one of her best. The story focuses on Vix, the wallflower, spending her summers with her friend Caitlin who comes from a wealthier background. This tradition sees them become the \u201d\u02dcsummer sisters\u2019, living through major events in each other\u2019s lives but losing contact as they grow up. Until, Caitlin calls Vix to let her know she\u2019s marrying Vix\u2019s ex-boyfriend and first love.<\/p>\n McKinnon\u2019s novel centres around the beach house Flossy\u2019s family stays in every summer whilst her children are young. Now each of her kids are adults (some with their own children), they return for a special birthday celebration. Each member of the family brings along their emotional baggage and the beach house is a personal comfort to them. Flossy is ready to sell the house despite the memories attached to it and has to break the news to her already fragile children.<\/p>\n McEwan\u2019s best work, Atonement<\/em>, focuses on a fateful summer that changes everyone\u2019s lives. The summer of 1935 sees the protagonist Briony falsely identify the man who attacks her cousin, meaning her actions sends an innocent man to prison. When Briony comes to realise the severity of her actions, it\u2019s too late but she vows to exonerate him. Briony becomes a successful author, writing about her atonement of the situation.<\/p>\n
\nSummer Sisters \u201d\u201c Judy Blume<\/h3>\n
\nThe Summer House \u201d\u201c Hannah McKinnon<\/h3>\n
\nAtonement \u201d\u201c Ian McEwan<\/h3>\n
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