The Summer Before The War - Softcover

Radiant ... I found myself turning pages with increasing awe as well as pleasure. The provincial village of Rye, Sussex in the days just before and after the Great War is so vividly drawn it fairly vibrates - but it's the depth and sensitivity with which Simonson weighs the steep costs and delicate bonds of wartime - and not just for the young men in the trenches, but for every changed life and heart - that reveals the full mastery of her storytelling. Like a Jane Austen or Henry James for our day and age, Simonson is that good, and The Summer Before the War is nothing short of a treasure (Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife)

At once haunting and effervescent, The Summer Before the War demonstrates the sure hand of a master. Simonson's characters enchant us, her English countryside beguiles us, and her historical intelligence keeps us at the edge of our seats. This luminous story of a family, a town, and a world in their final moments of innocence is as lingering and lovely as a long summer sunset (Annie Barrows, author of The Truth According to Us and co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society)

In the noisy world of today it is a delight to find a novel that dares to assert itself quietly but with the lovely rhythm of Helen Simonson's funny, comforting, and intelligent debut (Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Olive Kitteridge')

How clever of her to have entered that era so convincingly and gently and to have written about such traumas along with lovely wit and grace.hugely enjoyable (Sofka Zinovieff)

Funny, barbed, delightfully winsome storytelling . It's about intelligence, heart, dignity and backbone (New York Times)

A charming, funny and absorbing debut (Daily Mail)

A beautiful little love story (Alexander McCall Smith)

A gorgeous gem of a book. I found it original and quirky and the characters absolutely adorable - she's a wonderful, original writer and the characters really live. My ideal read, I loved (Santa Montefiore, author of The House by the Sea)

Simonson's writing is as delightful as ever, lively, witty and heartfelt, while engaging thoughtfully with the brutal imminence of World War I (Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles)

A quiet, but ultimately devastating, story of a society invaded by the death and violence from across the Channel. Pinpointing the snobbery and rigidity of a social order that needed a good shake-up, it is gently satiric, but lovingly written. Don't be put off by the leisurely pace, for at its heart is shrewd observation and a memorable tenderness (Daily Mail)