Thursday, July 28, 2016

At The Edge of Summer

At the Edge of Summer

At The Edge of Summer is the follow up to Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole. Like that book it takes a poignant view of two people and the way their relationship changes over time, as events take their lives in different directions, only to bring them back together later. Clare is a fiercely independent girlwhose mother has left her and whose grandfather is off traveling the world- she is taken in by a friend of her mothers and spends a summer in France at the chateau Mille Mots. It's a crumbling place but it's a haven for Clare as she struggles with the betrayal by her mother and her sense of loss, and she gets to know Luc over the course of the summer.

Luc is the son of her mothers friend and they are both drawn to the arts, and over the summer they become friends and perhaps more. Clare's mother was an artist and felt that her freedom and arty lifestyle was more important to her than raising her daughter, so she left, but Clare also has an artists touch. Together her and Luc spend a glorious summer exploring the grounds and getting to know one another, until her grandfather arrives to take her back to Scotland. Their lives take them in different directions as Clare travels with her grandfather and Luc goes to war- they stay in touch by letter but as time goes on the letters cease for various reasons and they lose touch.

Luc eventually returns to Paris where he will cross paths with Clare again. They're different people now though - will the connection still be there?

I think the author does a great job showing us pre-war France and the changes brought by WWI, and the first part of the book paints a vivid picture of Mille Mots and the idyllic countryside. The bonds that Clare and Luc forge that summer see them through years of heartbreak and adversity, and so it's fascinating to see them come back together as different people- and yet the same.I especially liked Clare's perspective and really felt for her with all she went through, and it was interesting to see her character develop through the years of traveling throughout Africa.

At The Edge of Summer is a fine story, well told,  and hits many of the same notes that Letters from Skye did. A long distance relationship in an era when communication was sketchy, the uncertainty of not knowing if someone is even alive or thinking of you, a love that crosses years and great distance, and two well drawn protagonists. And France isn't a bad setting either. A good read.

11 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good story, and the cover is lovely too.

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  2. My husband teases me about loving WWII era books, but there are just so many stories in so many countries! I'm glad you enjoyed this one (that cover would have pulled me in too!).

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    1. It is a nice cover. And I like stories set in that time period too.

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  3. I added Letters from Skye to my TBR not too long ago because of your recommendation and this looks like another fantastic read. It's so hard to really comprehend how big the world used to be in terms of communication and I love books that span years.

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    1. I'm glad, I think you'll like Skye. If I had to pick I'd say I liked that one a bit more, but this is a good read as well. And you're right- one of my favorite parts of both these books is the letter writing, and how they communicated. Such a lost art.

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  4. Such an interesting time in history--and I like that it is set in France. Although different circumstances (and different war), I enjoyed reading the letters and telegrams my grandmother had kept while my grandfather was in the military. All the things he couldn't say--and the things he did. I love stories like this.

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    1. The france setting was great- nice descriptions of Paris and how the war changed it, and the French countryside as well. That's neat about your grandmother and her letters! You might like the epistolary nature of this one then, and perhaps Letters from Skye as well.

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  5. I've never even heard of Letters from Skye! I need to look it up. I love that this is set in France and I've always been a fan of WWI WWII settings and especially given a romance when communication wasn't as easy as it is nowadays. Lovely review^^

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    1. It was a couple years ago. Good book. More epistolary then this one but they both have that. And if you like a love story with distance and things like the war getting in the way, these might be good picks!

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  6. I loved Letters from Skye and want to read this book.

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