"Everything I thought I knew about myself was constructed in those few months I spent within touching distance of the sea. Everything I am is because Alistair loved me."
Katie Bishop ~ The Girls of Summer
Synopsis
Rachel has been in love with Alistair since she was seventeen. Even though she hasn't seen him for sixteen years and she's now married to someone else. Even though she was a teenager when they met. Even though he is twenty years older than her. She's found it impossible to forget their summer together on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island. Until now.
When Rachel unexpectedly reconnects with a girl that she knew back then, she is forced to re-examine her memories of that golden summer and confront the truth about her relationship with Alistair and about her time working for an enigmatic and wealthy man on the island. And when Alistair returns, the pull of the past could prove impossible to resist...
Review
Many of us enter adulthood with flawed memories; things that happen in childhood often skewed and misunderstood. Sometimes the reality of what we witness in our youth is only revealed to us when another mentions it in a different context.
In The Girls of Summer we meet Rachel, who is still in love with the man she met when she was a teenager. Years have gone by and she's now married, but Alastair - who is twenty years older - is always on her mind.
As we follow the dual timelines of then and now, we are thrust into a world of drugs, grooming and sexual tension. Katie Bishop is a talented writer and it's impossible to put the book down, despite the difficult subject matter.
It's a tough read at times, especially the idea that teenagers think they know everything and are determined to have it their own way no matter what. Rachel is blinded by love, failing to see what is right in front of her.
Twenty years later, she is still unsure of the truth and we are shocked by her refusal to accept that Alastair may not be as wonderful as she assumes. There is much to dislike about Rachel and her attitude but Bishop manages to create a balance between sympathy and frustration so that we can't help but pity her and how her past is affecting her present.
The secrets revealed are shocking and remind us how vulnerable and young teenagers really are, despite their belief that they are no longer children.
It's a scary, thought-provoking book for anyone who has been a teenage girl, or is mother to one.
Thanks to Bantam, Transworld Press for my proof copy. Opinions my own.
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