The Summer of Secrets by Sarah Jasmon

Review Date: 22 August 2015

Author: Sarah Jasmon

Release Date:  13 August 2015

Publishers: Black Swan, Transworld Publishers

ISBN -10: 0552779970

ISBN – 13: 978-0552779975

352pp

Available in Paperback, Kindle and Audio

Authors Website: http://sarahjasmon.com/

 

The Last Word Review

A debut like none I have come across. This is to be cherished like a timeless classic because it will become just that

When a debut novel lands on my desk there is always a little apprehension as to what lies between the covers. When a debut novel lands on my desk that very quickly impresses me and then turns out to be something very special I sit up and take notice. The superlatives that I would use would be insufficient. This is something very unique and very special. Thank you to Ben Willis at Transworld Publishers for sending a review copy.

What are your memories of the summer of 1983. For me it was an exciting time I was lot younger for one thing and days where long and memories that will live long. Here we have in Sarah Jasmon’s The Summer of Secrets a story in two parts.

The story starts in the very summer of 1983 and is told by Helen reminiscing about her youth, then a sixteen year old girl whose controlling mother has left the family home and now Helen is cared for by her father who has become lost in his own world and drink. Helen was looking forward to spending another summer by the river while her father spent his time on his boat while neglecting his daughter. But something was about to change all that.

The Dover family arrived on the scene and moved in to a house close by. They have a daughter also in her teenage years and is somewhat carefree and this intrigues Helen and the pair strike up a friendship and while away the summer days together. Helen is beguiled by the Dover family and their lifestyle and tries to get closer to the family until Victoria decides she has got too close. Then something happens and the Dover family suddenly disappear with no warning. You sense something is about to happen it is building at every turn of the page there are undercurrents in the story line that you feel at some point that would really explode.

Using the premise of looking back at the summer of 1983 and then as the story is narrated 30 years later to 2013. Helen is now 46 and has not seen or heard of the Dover family since that summer all those years before a summer that has left a scar on Helen. This is a story that moves along at a pace that will make you think about the story when you are not reading it and you will want to catch up at every opportunity.

Now Helen discovers that Victoria is running an art exhibition close to where she lives, this is an opportunity to discover what really happened that fateful night and what made the Dover’s flee. Will Helen finally find out the truth finally?

The Summer of Secrets is a book that I truly loved it made me think when I was away from the story it is so beautifully written and Jasmon’s prose is something I will take from this coming of age story that will appeal too many it deserves to become a classic both in story and writing.

So for me the memories of the summer of 1983 are now back fresh in my mind, the soundtrack of my life sadly a time that now seems lost to the era in which we now live.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

 

Meet the Author

Sarah Jasmon

Sarah Jasmon lives on a canal boat near Manchester with her children. She has had several short stories published, is curating a poetry anthology, and has recently graduated from the Creative Writing MA course at Manchester Metropolitan University. The Summer of Secrets is Sarah Jasmon’s first novel published by Black Swan. To find out more, visit http://sarahjasmon.com/