Peirene issues books in trios. This is the first of the three books in the “East and West: Looking Both Ways” series. The other two, The Orange Grove by Larry Tremblay and Dance by the Canal by Kerstin Hensel, will be released later in 2017.] It even reminded me of places of Downton Abbey (which maybe is what the author was going for, considering she published this, her first novel, when that show is still so popular). I’m not even referring to the upstairs/downstairs romance with a character named TOM (although that was there), but the fact that the Granvilles, like the Crawleys, made some bad wartime investments and nearly lose their manor house. The Granvilles eventually do have to sell Deyning Park after some valiant efforts to save the place.

The Last Summer is meticulously researched and beautifully told . . . a wonderfully satisfying read' – Santa Montefiore My stay here is fascinating from a psychological viewpoint. The family has all the virtues and defects of its class. Perhaps one cannot even talk of defects; they merely have the one: belonging to an era that must pass and standing in the way of one that is emerging. When a beautiful old tree has to be felled to make way for a railway line, it’s painful to watch; you stand beside it like an old friend, gazing admiringly and in grief until it comes down. It is undeniably a shame about the governor, who is a splendid example of his kind, but I believe that he has already passed his peak. Noble Tom saves Clarissa’s troublesome sibling from devastation, but wants his service kept secret from her. Doesn’t that bring to mind how in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy saves Lydia from utter ruination, but asks her to keep it a secret from Elizabeth? Huh. The writing is eloquent and vivid. The characters are hardy, resilient, and brave. And the plot is an alluring tale of life, loss, family, friendship, community, intrigue, mystery, drama, expectations, angst, social division, heartbreak, and love.

Member Reviews

This is the author's "first adult" book following her string of "Traveling Pants" novels for young adults. It's about three people -- two sisters and their next-door neighbor -- and summers spent living the island life. Riley's the older sister, outdoors-driven to the point where she eshews "normal" relationships and activities with which others her age are consumed; Alice, her amazingly beautiful, selfless and smart younger sister; and Paul, the rich, semi-tortured (as all stereotypical rich kids are) boy-next-door and Riley's best, platonic friend. So the thing about this book is I only came to it because the author was mentioned in Hans Fallada’s brilliant but wild prison memoir, “A Stranger in My Own Country”, as one of the few German writers who had not only stayed behind in Germany throughout WW2, but also one of the even fewer who was openly (if not cautiously) critical of Hitler and the Nazis. If Hans Fallada likes you, there’s a good chance I will as well. This is a captivating book, although when I first began reading, I wasn't sure the structure of the novel - comprised entirely of letters to and from the various characters in the story - was going to sustain my interest. But it did and completely. It gives us an insight into all the characters, their thoughts, feelings and motivations without any sense of artificiality coming into play. This is an old-fashioned story, stretching from 1914 to 1930; and is as much a story telling of the changing society of the times as it is a love story. The horrors of the war told mainly from the point view of the mothers, wives and daughters left behind, and the sense of loss, the grief never really recovered from is achingly poignant in its depiction. The decline of the great houses, slow loss of a whole way of living, shift in society and power, rising independence of women are all observed upon. Then they get together and spend the entire middle of the book having sex in various locations. His bed, her bed, the kitchen floor, the beach, a chair...

Overall, The Last Summer is a beautifully written, incredibly atmospheric, brilliant start to a new series by Swan that I absolutely devoured, highly recommend, and is hands down one of my favourite reads of the year. I will soon turn 29 and I haven’t read the sisterhood series by Ann Brashares yet, I recently read The Last summer (of you and me) and I loved it (literally couldn’t put it down). Despite romance seemingly the focus initially, all is definately not what it seems and the reader's endure an unforgettable adventure with fun, sadness hardships and so much laughter and unpredictability even a pet cheetah & food fights!All the central characters are engaging; and their progression, the changes to their personalities over the years believable and very much shaped by events and circumstances, the direction that life takes them. I loved the innocent Clarissa at the start of the story, her optimism and belief in everything good, yet she couldn't stay like that; and Tom too changes from the shy and reserved young man we first meet. Effy has to compete and win against the males and it seems no challenge is too small for this young girl. The Last Summer was written by Ricarda Huch, a German intellectual who was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature seven times. It was translated into English by small press Peirene for the first time more than a century later.

She was seventeen when we met, at her parents’ country estate. I could see the house, the grounds – the flowers especially – and I understood that Clarissa and her three elder brothers had enjoyed a wonderful childhood. First published in 1910, this German-language novella is a delightfully different — and completely compelling — twist on a psychological thriller.The translation works extremely well. I forgot I was reading a translation, convinced I was reading the original. Always a sign of a great translation.