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That Summer by: Andrew Greig List Price: £8.99 City Travel Guides Price: £6.99 You Save: £2.00 (22%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 813 EAN: 9780571204731 ISBN: 0571204732 Label: Faber and Faber Manufacturer: Faber and Faber Number Of Pages: 271 Publication Date: July 09, 2001 Publisher: Faber and Faber Studio: Faber and Faber Sales Rank: 33451 Related Items: Related Items:      see moreBrowse for similar items by category:
Editorial Review: Amazon.co.uk Review: Andrew Greig, prize-winning novelist and poet, dedicates his latest novel "to the vanishing generation"--all who lived through the Second World War and That Summer, the summer of 1940 and the Battle of Britain. It is a heartfelt and eloquent homage to them all, but there is no distant memorialising here. Instead, its chapters, narrated alternately in two voices, Len's and Stella's, speak with wonderful immediacy and tactility. The naive and eager, yet quietly thoughtful Len is a 22-year-old fighter pilot and Stella, a radio operator who, a year older, is marginally more worldly. As the battle in the air intensifies, Stella sits at her screen watching the little falling blips, and imagining the young Fraulein on the other side of the Channel who is "my twin, my sister, my mirror. My enemy who is not my enemy", and worries about the foolhardiness of loving in wartime. But love they do, in spite of and because of the exhausting dread, the anticipation and waiting, the ordinariness and impermanence of those haunting, sun-filled months. Noisy, frenetic pubbing, dancing, creeping home through the blackout darkness fills the ragged time in between Len's almost daily sorties in his "Hurri": "I thought of my fierce excitement just before I killed, and my numbness once I had, and then like Stella I said out loud, "What are we becoming?" And death permeates their very air. On the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Andrew Greig has written a captivatingly memorable elegy; its language is alert and vivid and its emotional reach both rich and subtle. --Ruth Petrie Synopsis: It is late June and the summer of 1940 is about to become the myth that will define a generation. When Len Westbourne, an inexperienced fighter pilot falls in love with Stella Gardam, a radar operator with a far more worldly attitude, they are all too aware that their time may be short as the War becomes an epic struggle between the Luftwaffe and the RAF - The Battle of Britain. Told in intimate, alternate chapters from the perspectives of Len and Stella, That Summer matures into a breathtaking novel: a classic love story vividly evoking life during wartime. From the Publisher: Praise for That Summer ‘The Battle of Britain may be rightly regarded as the most famous air conflict in history but Greig has made it something much more important for a generation now almost unimaginably removed: he has made it real . . . That Summer is an extraordinary achievement that deserves to have Greig, after several impressive novels, promoted to the ranks of the highest-regarded writers.’ Anthea Lawson, The Times ‘A novel of great power, intelligence and delicacy . . . a remarkable achievement, by far the best thing Andrew Greig has done, and a book which establishes him as a very considerable novelist.’ Allan Massie, The Scotsman ‘Greig’s achievement is to let us smell the flowers through the smoke, pain and confusion. This is a lovely book.’ Peter Cunningham, The Irish Times Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Just beautiful!The immediacy of life during the Battle of Britain springs vividly from the pages of this beautifully narrated book. The main characters, Len and Stella, narrate their interactions, their feelings, as they live every minute as though it could be their last. And that is the reality of war. Their most intimate thoughts are brilliantly brought to the reader so that you feel that you know their friends and acquaintances, especially Tad and Maddy, and you cannot help but care for them. They muse about their opposite numbers and this delicately bares the usually thorny subject of the futility of war and conflict. Such a beautifully written story is bound to stir the emotions of any reader, and my memories of this book, both ... Read More: Rating: - suprisingi don't normally read love stories and go for books that are more historical but after reading just the first few pages of that summer i was totally hooked on the story and the characters i felt i personally new them when they were happy and safe i smiled and and felt content but also i had a lump in my throat and felt i could cry with them in there times of despair when close friends like Maddy were lost i normally read a book in two weeks but this one i could not put down and was finished within as many days Rating: - One of those books you just have to read I think I bought this book one day with many others - not really paying attention to it - but as I read a lot of historical fiction I thought I would give it a go. I was amazed - the plot - the characters (whom you really come to care about and want to succeed) - the pace of the narrative was such that even when I got off my tube on the way to work - I couldn't put this book down. I rarely cry at the end of a novel and usually know when an author is trying to manipulate me - but this ending caught me by surprise - so I was unprepared for the emotional reaction I had. Please read it - travel back to the summer of 1940 on a wonderful journey. Rating: - brilliantatmospheric, haunting, I am still thinking about it months after I read it. A must if you like novels about WW2 Rating: - That Summer.I listened to this novel on audio tape whilst travelling to and from work...where I do the modern version of Stella's job. I was late in on the morning when I was listening to the last couple of chapters, I had to pull over, I simply couldn't drive and listen at the same time! The teling of the tale of these 2 lovers reminds us of the sacrifices that our ancestors made at the same time as trying to live the live of youung men and women. A triumph, well done Mr Grieg. |
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