The Book of Summers

Beth Lowe has been sent a parcel. Inside is a letter informing her that her long-estranged mother has died, and a scrapbook Beth has never seen before. Entitled THE BOOK OF SUMMERS, it's stuffed with photographs and mementos complied by her mother to record the seven glorious childhood summers Beth spent in rural Hungary.

It was a time when she trod the tightrope between separated parents and two very different countries; her bewitching but imperfect Hungarian mother and her gentle, reticent English father; the dazzling house of a Hungarian artist and an empty-feeling cottage in deepest Devon. And it was a time that came to the most brutal of ends the year Beth turned sixteen.

Since then, Beth hasn't allowed herself to think about those years of her childhood. But the arrival of THE BOOK OF SUMMERS brings the past tumbling back into the present; as vivid, painful and vital as ever.

“'A compelling coming-of-age story with a superb twist'”

A charming debut novel - Woman's Own

A vivid coming-of-age story - Woman & Home

A compelling coming-of-age story with a superb twist - Easy Living

Emylia Hall creates an enchanting and vivid picture of Beth's summers in rural Hungary... It's an addictive read and an amazing debut for Emylia Hall -

Fab debut about a woman reliving the summers she spent in rural Hungary - Heat

Heartfelt and evocative... all we need now is for summer to finally arrive - Grazia

Fantastically evocative and sun-drenched with a twist, it's guaranteed a place on our summer holiday reading list -

Enchantingly evocative - Marie Claire

Emylia Hall was born in 1978 and grew up in the Devon countryside, the daughter of an English artist and a Hungarian quilt-maker. After studying at York University and in Lausanne, Switzerland, Emylia spent five years working in a London ad agency, before moving to the French Alps. It was there that she began to write. Emylia now lives in Bristol with her husband, also an author. THE BOOK OF SUMMERS her first novel, and is inspired by evocative memories of childhood holidays spent in rural Hungary.

Beth Lowe has been sent a parcel. Inside is a letter informing her that her long-estranged mother has died, and a scrapbook Beth has never seen before. Entitled THE BOOK OF SUMMERS, it's stuffed with photographs and mementos complied by her mother to record the seven glorious childhood summers Beth spent in rural Hungary. It was a time when she trod the tightrope between separated parents and two very different countries; her bewitching but imperfect Hungarian mother and her gentle, reticent English father; the dazzling house of a Hungarian artist and an empty-feeling cottage in deepest Devon. And it was a time that came to the most brutal of ends the year Beth turned sixteen.Since then, Beth hasn't allowed herself to think about those years of her childhood. But the arrival of THE BOOK OF SUMMERS brings the past tumbling back into the present; as vivid, painful and vital as ever.

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