Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rachel was just seventeen when she met Alistair. He was in his thirties. She was spending the summer on holiday with her best friend, and he was working for a powerful billionaire on an idyllic Greek island. Of course, when Rachel falls head over heels for this fella who radiates red flag warnings, we know this isn’t going to end well.
Sixteen years later and Rachel is married to another man, though their relationship is staid. Rachel still thinks of her first love and all the what-ifs. After all, that one summer changed the course of her life forever, but an unexpected encounter with one of the girls she lived on the Greek island with forces her to re-examine her one-sided recollection of her time on the island and the relationship she had with Alistair. But when he enters her life again, Rachel finds herself pulled back into Alistair’s orbit, bringing the past – with all its blurry, uncomfortable realities – crashing into her present.
Alternating between ‘then’ and ‘now’, we explore how Rachel and Alistair met, how he easily drew her into a world of powerful men and exploitation. Rachel was besotted and didn’t see Alistair’s attention as anything other than pure love. As a woman reading this book, the warning signs that he is dangerous and predatory are glaring. I wanted to scream at Rachel to run fast! The only friend who tried to intervene was quickly shunned by Rachel after Alistair branded her as jealous.
This is Rachel’s story but is also the story of women the world over. Women who experienced the male-dominated behaviour explored in this book which was so often excused, explained away or simply accepted as part of life.
The Girls of Summer is Katie Bishop’s debut novel, and you probably have expectations of a typical sun-drenched summer read. And, sure, this book partly takes place on a beautiful, sun-trapped Greek island, where the days are lazy, the nights long, the drinks flow endlessly, and the rest of the world feels a million miles out, but there’s a darker side to this story which casts a sharp spotlight on the complicated nature of power, consent and how we deal with our memories. 3.5⭐️
Sixteen years later and Rachel is married to another man, though their relationship is staid. Rachel still thinks of her first love and all the what-ifs. After all, that one summer changed the course of her life forever, but an unexpected encounter with one of the girls she lived on the Greek island with forces her to re-examine her one-sided recollection of her time on the island and the relationship she had with Alistair. But when he enters her life again, Rachel finds herself pulled back into Alistair’s orbit, bringing the past – with all its blurry, uncomfortable realities – crashing into her present.
Alternating between ‘then’ and ‘now’, we explore how Rachel and Alistair met, how he easily drew her into a world of powerful men and exploitation. Rachel was besotted and didn’t see Alistair’s attention as anything other than pure love. As a woman reading this book, the warning signs that he is dangerous and predatory are glaring. I wanted to scream at Rachel to run fast! The only friend who tried to intervene was quickly shunned by Rachel after Alistair branded her as jealous.
This is Rachel’s story but is also the story of women the world over. Women who experienced the male-dominated behaviour explored in this book which was so often excused, explained away or simply accepted as part of life.
The Girls of Summer is Katie Bishop’s debut novel, and you probably have expectations of a typical sun-drenched summer read. And, sure, this book partly takes place on a beautiful, sun-trapped Greek island, where the days are lazy, the nights long, the drinks flow endlessly, and the rest of the world feels a million miles out, but there’s a darker side to this story which casts a sharp spotlight on the complicated nature of power, consent and how we deal with our memories. 3.5⭐️
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Head over to books and bargains on YouTube to hear my thoughts 😀
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wasn't so sure what to expect when I stated to read this book, as the title and the cover don't exactly match the content and message of this book. But I found a book that is very fitting in our time on MeToo. It is told from the perspective of Rachel and split between two timelines: Then & Now. Rachel Then, starts as a 17 year old school girl on a backpacking trip through Greece when she becomes enraptured by an older man, Alistair and life on this hidden away island. Fueled by the parties and drinking, this is a dream of a summer. The Rachel Now, is lifeless and unhappy in her ordinary life with her normal reliable husband. She is not a good person. And this is what elivates this novel while being maddening at times. Rachel's gold view on the past makes her a flawed narrator. As an adult woman in these times, I see the clues and the icky and questionable actions that Rachel sees and then brushes off.
I was captured by the island atmosphere and the intrigue of the story and what actually happened in the past so while I feel it is a 3.75, I round up to a 4.
Thank you to NetGalley for this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
I was captured by the island atmosphere and the intrigue of the story and what actually happened in the past so while I feel it is a 3.75, I round up to a 4.
Thank you to NetGalley for this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Trafficking, Abortion
Minor: Vomit
challenging
dark
medium-paced
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Girls of Summer is a powerful story of awakening, reconciliation, forgiveness, and healing in order to move forward, told through alternating first-person narratives from Rachel. In one, she details the events of the summer when she was seventeen years old and permitted by her parents to go on a seven-week, island hopping vacation with her best friend, Caroline, before returning home to continue her education. They end up on an idyllic Greek island where they join a group of girls living and working together in a local backpacker bar. Rachel has never been among the most popular girls at school and has no dating experience. Innocent and gullible, like most teenage girls she is insecure about her appearance and desirability. So when the handsome bar manager, Alistair, turns his attention to her, she instantly knows that the moment he asks her name is one she will never forget. She is flattered, enchanted, and secretly satisfied that the attention Alistair showers on her appears to make Caroline jealous, as she “nurses the special secret glow that had taken root when Alistair had touched my arm, his fingers hot against my skin.” In subsequent chapters, Rachel describes her interactions with the twenty years older Alistair, who insists that they keep their relationship a secret to avoid the bar’s owner finding out about Alistair’s fraternization. Alistair’s employer is a mysterious, wealthy businessman for whom Alistair performs a variety of duties, including serving as the caretaker of his large villa to which he invites Rachel for clandestine sexual rendezvous. Rachel quickly falls desperately in love with Alistair and, eventually, decides that she will remain on the island with him rather than return home to resume her studies, believing everything he tells her. And willing to do anything he asks of her.
Rachel’s present-day narrative is brutally emotional and heartbreakingly honest. Now nearing her thirty-fifth birthday, her life appears to all outside observers to be settled. She had no other boyfriends after Alistair until she met Tom, and Rachel just fell into their relationship and marriage, which has proven comfortable and provided her with stability. She enjoys her career. But in actuality, she is deeply unhappy. She has never been able to move on from what she fondly recalls as a magical summer and is, according to debut author Katie Bishop, caught up in her memories of it. There are two painful aspects of it, however, that haunt Rachel, remaining unresolved in her mind and preventing her from moving forward in her life with Tom.
On vacation, Rachel returns to the island with Tom. She seeks out Helena, who was one of the girls with whom she lived and worked during that fateful summer, and now owns and operates the bar. She implores Helena to tell her how to reach Alistair, with whom she has had no contact since the traumatic morning when Rachel woke to find he had fled the island without her. Helena provides the information, along with a stern warning. “You should be careful. I’m just not sure you know quite what you’re getting yourself into.” But Rachel’s “need for him feels primal and urgent.” When Rachel hears that Alistair is, like she and Tom, living in London, she works up the courage to contact him, but is disappointed by his initial reaction: “How did you find me?” Soon, though, she is again ensnared by Alistair’s charisma and their passionate sexual relationship.
Tom is a richly relatable and empathetic character. He loves Rachel deeply and is earnestly committed to the marriage, believing that they are united in their desire to start a family. But Rachel inexplicably rebuffs his suggestion that they seek medical advice when the months tick by and Rachel does not become pregnant. Tom does not know the truth or any of the details about Rachel’s past because she has never shared her experiences with him. He does not know that there is literally nothing he can ever do to make Rachel happy and their marriage a thriving union. He has no idea he is fighting a losing battle because, in Rachel’s mind, no man can or will ever measure up to Alistair . . . as she remembers him and persists in perceiving him once they reconnect. As the story proceeds, it becomes evident that Tom’s heartbreak is inevitable and will be emotionally wrenching.
Bishop’s choice to relate the story through Rachel is highly effective, and her use of the present tense in both narratives heightens understanding of Rachel’s thought processes and journey. Bishop says she wanted to illustrate that “even though Rachel is seventeen years older, and her life is in a very different place, in many ways she is still trapped in that summer, and she’s never really been able to move on. It still feels so present, so visceral to her, even though she is so much older and is in many ways in a different place now.” Indeed, Rachel’s reunion with Alistair opens a proverbial Pandora’s box of memories, emotions, and complications that ultimately lead to Rachel’s reckoning with the truth about that life-changing summer.
When Helena contacts Rachel to say that she is coming to London and would like to meet, Rachel is reluctant. Eventually, she relents but when she arrives at their appointed meeting place, she is met not just by Helena, but also three of the other girls who spent that summer on the island, Priya, Eloise, and Agnes. Rachel wants no part of the conversation Helena has secretly orchestrated. But is curious and persuaded to hear the women out by Helena’s shocking declaration that Alistair “lies. He always did. He still does. To both of us.” That meeting proves to be a milestone moment in Rachel’s life. Priya is now a successful attorney who has been retained to find answers about that summer by the parents of another girl who was there: “Kiera, who never came home.” The women confront Rachel with the truth about the events of that summer and the men who preyed upon them, including Alistair.
Initially disbelieving, Rachel gradually begins to recognize the truth. It is an excruciatingly painful ordeal, realistically portrayed by Bishop. She can no longer delude herself, instead struggling to reconcile her memories and beliefs about what happened with the facts and evidence supplied by Priya and the others. Back then, Rachel lied about a significant incident, but is forced to acknowledge that “perhaps I was protecting the wrong person.” Bishop explains that, in many ways, Rachel is still the seventeen-year-old girl she was all those years ago. She stopped maturing and, in critical ways, has been sleepwalking, mentally checked out of her own present-day life. Now, she starts to recall that summer differently, the filter of innocence, infatuation, and obsession finally torn away. Alistair asked her to keep his secrets, no matter what it cost her. “They feel like parts of the same puzzle, lines from the same song, chapters of the same story. Fragmented things that I had never thought to put together before, feeling suddenly sharp and solidified.” At last, she understands and is forced to accept that Alistair, his boss, and their business associates were predators, and must reconcile the ways in which she and the other girls were lied to, manipulated, and used . . . as well as her own blind culpability. She is forced to choose whether she will help Priya at long last secure justice for Kiera. And must discern how to heal and move forward with the knowledge she has acquired.
Bishop says that through Rachel, she “was trying to capture the experience that many people have with trauma.” A common theme is that they feel “almost stuck in that moment of trauma,” so Rachel is “still feeling those experiences that she had back then.” Victims of trauma also rewrite history, remembering people and events in ways that defy reality. It is a defense mechanism employed by the psyche as a shield from pain. Rachel exhibits both long-term effects of sexual abuse. Bishop credibly depicts the ways in which her vociferous denials eventually give way to realization. Her story is deeply disturbing and infuriating. It is at times tempting to lose patience with Rachel, viewing her as quite stubborn and unlikable, but Bishop conclusively demonstrates that she is merely reacting in a manner consistent with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Ultimately, Rachel’s story is one of survival, redemption, and carving a path toward a happy, healthy future. Bishop’s goal in writing it was to help readers who have experienced trauma feel “less alone in the experience” through the experiences of a character to whom they can and perhaps have not seen represented in literature until now.
The Girls of Summer is a stunning debut. Bishop’s characters are fully developed and multi-dimensional. Her prose is evocative, often chillingly straightforward and lacking surplusage. She keeps the story interesting not just by alternating the two narratives, advancing the action incrementally in each and building the dramatic tension at a steady pace, but also by injecting a compelling mystery involving Kiera’s fate. The story is a contemporary, yet also timeless cautionary tale about innocence, sexuality, awareness, and female empowerment and autonomy. The Girls of Summer is a provocative and absorbing. story that continues to resonate long after reading the last page.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Rachel’s present-day narrative is brutally emotional and heartbreakingly honest. Now nearing her thirty-fifth birthday, her life appears to all outside observers to be settled. She had no other boyfriends after Alistair until she met Tom, and Rachel just fell into their relationship and marriage, which has proven comfortable and provided her with stability. She enjoys her career. But in actuality, she is deeply unhappy. She has never been able to move on from what she fondly recalls as a magical summer and is, according to debut author Katie Bishop, caught up in her memories of it. There are two painful aspects of it, however, that haunt Rachel, remaining unresolved in her mind and preventing her from moving forward in her life with Tom.
On vacation, Rachel returns to the island with Tom. She seeks out Helena, who was one of the girls with whom she lived and worked during that fateful summer, and now owns and operates the bar. She implores Helena to tell her how to reach Alistair, with whom she has had no contact since the traumatic morning when Rachel woke to find he had fled the island without her. Helena provides the information, along with a stern warning. “You should be careful. I’m just not sure you know quite what you’re getting yourself into.” But Rachel’s “need for him feels primal and urgent.” When Rachel hears that Alistair is, like she and Tom, living in London, she works up the courage to contact him, but is disappointed by his initial reaction: “How did you find me?” Soon, though, she is again ensnared by Alistair’s charisma and their passionate sexual relationship.
Tom is a richly relatable and empathetic character. He loves Rachel deeply and is earnestly committed to the marriage, believing that they are united in their desire to start a family. But Rachel inexplicably rebuffs his suggestion that they seek medical advice when the months tick by and Rachel does not become pregnant. Tom does not know the truth or any of the details about Rachel’s past because she has never shared her experiences with him. He does not know that there is literally nothing he can ever do to make Rachel happy and their marriage a thriving union. He has no idea he is fighting a losing battle because, in Rachel’s mind, no man can or will ever measure up to Alistair . . . as she remembers him and persists in perceiving him once they reconnect. As the story proceeds, it becomes evident that Tom’s heartbreak is inevitable and will be emotionally wrenching.
Bishop’s choice to relate the story through Rachel is highly effective, and her use of the present tense in both narratives heightens understanding of Rachel’s thought processes and journey. Bishop says she wanted to illustrate that “even though Rachel is seventeen years older, and her life is in a very different place, in many ways she is still trapped in that summer, and she’s never really been able to move on. It still feels so present, so visceral to her, even though she is so much older and is in many ways in a different place now.” Indeed, Rachel’s reunion with Alistair opens a proverbial Pandora’s box of memories, emotions, and complications that ultimately lead to Rachel’s reckoning with the truth about that life-changing summer.
When Helena contacts Rachel to say that she is coming to London and would like to meet, Rachel is reluctant. Eventually, she relents but when she arrives at their appointed meeting place, she is met not just by Helena, but also three of the other girls who spent that summer on the island, Priya, Eloise, and Agnes. Rachel wants no part of the conversation Helena has secretly orchestrated. But is curious and persuaded to hear the women out by Helena’s shocking declaration that Alistair “lies. He always did. He still does. To both of us.” That meeting proves to be a milestone moment in Rachel’s life. Priya is now a successful attorney who has been retained to find answers about that summer by the parents of another girl who was there: “Kiera, who never came home.” The women confront Rachel with the truth about the events of that summer and the men who preyed upon them, including Alistair.
Initially disbelieving, Rachel gradually begins to recognize the truth. It is an excruciatingly painful ordeal, realistically portrayed by Bishop. She can no longer delude herself, instead struggling to reconcile her memories and beliefs about what happened with the facts and evidence supplied by Priya and the others. Back then, Rachel lied about a significant incident, but is forced to acknowledge that “perhaps I was protecting the wrong person.” Bishop explains that, in many ways, Rachel is still the seventeen-year-old girl she was all those years ago. She stopped maturing and, in critical ways, has been sleepwalking, mentally checked out of her own present-day life. Now, she starts to recall that summer differently, the filter of innocence, infatuation, and obsession finally torn away. Alistair asked her to keep his secrets, no matter what it cost her. “They feel like parts of the same puzzle, lines from the same song, chapters of the same story. Fragmented things that I had never thought to put together before, feeling suddenly sharp and solidified.” At last, she understands and is forced to accept that Alistair, his boss, and their business associates were predators, and must reconcile the ways in which she and the other girls were lied to, manipulated, and used . . . as well as her own blind culpability. She is forced to choose whether she will help Priya at long last secure justice for Kiera. And must discern how to heal and move forward with the knowledge she has acquired.
Bishop says that through Rachel, she “was trying to capture the experience that many people have with trauma.” A common theme is that they feel “almost stuck in that moment of trauma,” so Rachel is “still feeling those experiences that she had back then.” Victims of trauma also rewrite history, remembering people and events in ways that defy reality. It is a defense mechanism employed by the psyche as a shield from pain. Rachel exhibits both long-term effects of sexual abuse. Bishop credibly depicts the ways in which her vociferous denials eventually give way to realization. Her story is deeply disturbing and infuriating. It is at times tempting to lose patience with Rachel, viewing her as quite stubborn and unlikable, but Bishop conclusively demonstrates that she is merely reacting in a manner consistent with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Ultimately, Rachel’s story is one of survival, redemption, and carving a path toward a happy, healthy future. Bishop’s goal in writing it was to help readers who have experienced trauma feel “less alone in the experience” through the experiences of a character to whom they can and perhaps have not seen represented in literature until now.
The Girls of Summer is a stunning debut. Bishop’s characters are fully developed and multi-dimensional. Her prose is evocative, often chillingly straightforward and lacking surplusage. She keeps the story interesting not just by alternating the two narratives, advancing the action incrementally in each and building the dramatic tension at a steady pace, but also by injecting a compelling mystery involving Kiera’s fate. The story is a contemporary, yet also timeless cautionary tale about innocence, sexuality, awareness, and female empowerment and autonomy. The Girls of Summer is a provocative and absorbing. story that continues to resonate long after reading the last page.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Abortion, Pregnancy
An impactful and attention-grabbing story of how late teens can be manipulated into believing they aren't victims of #metoo moments, when older men say the "right" things to them. We *must* educated the next generations of girls to protect themselves. An important novel.
When Rachel was barely 18, she spent the summer traveling in Greece with her BFF. On their last stop, which was a remote island, she encounters a man 20 years her senior who makes her feel mature, pretty, special, and loved. Rachel decides to stay on the island and work, missing her senior year in high school, to be Alistair.
The book alternates between the present--when Rachel is around 30, back in the UK, and married--and that fateful summer.
It's fascinating to see the then and now, especially as Rachel finally begins to see her 18-year-old self through her adult eyes. In this way, the novel address and makes clear the issue of why it's common for women to wait years before they finally report their #metoo moments. It also addresses how such experiences affect women's relationships for decades.
Some scenes are horrible to read--such as date rape and the way the girls are pressured and manipulated --as teenage Rachel becomes more involved with Alistair, his boss, and his lifestyle. Rachel is not alone in Greece, she lives and works with several other girls, who also attend the fancy parties Alistair arranges.
Some of the book reminds us of the Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell case. Through Rachel we see how easy it is for some women to not see the reality of their experiences, especially when they've been caught at a vulnerable age or life moment. Abuse is abuse and it's only men who say "boys will be boys" or that girls/women just don't understand the way things are.
The audiobook was performed by Annabel Scholey, whose delivery was expressive and emotive. She was incredibly engaging and amazingly good at hitting the right notes of Rachel's belief, hope, and naivete as well as her later depression and final awakening. I listened to the entire 10.5-hr audiobook in two days. Excellent work.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the review copy.
When Rachel was barely 18, she spent the summer traveling in Greece with her BFF. On their last stop, which was a remote island, she encounters a man 20 years her senior who makes her feel mature, pretty, special, and loved. Rachel decides to stay on the island and work, missing her senior year in high school, to be Alistair.
The book alternates between the present--when Rachel is around 30, back in the UK, and married--and that fateful summer.
It's fascinating to see the then and now, especially as Rachel finally begins to see her 18-year-old self through her adult eyes. In this way, the novel address and makes clear the issue of why it's common for women to wait years before they finally report their #metoo moments. It also addresses how such experiences affect women's relationships for decades.
Some scenes are horrible to read--
Some of the book reminds us of the Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell case. Through Rachel we see how easy it is for some women to not see the reality of their experiences, especially when they've been caught at a vulnerable age or life moment. Abuse is abuse and it's only men who say "boys will be boys" or that girls/women just don't understand the way things are.
The audiobook was performed by Annabel Scholey, whose delivery was expressive and emotive. She was incredibly engaging and amazingly good at hitting the right notes of Rachel's belief, hope, and naivete as well as her later depression and final awakening. I listened to the entire 10.5-hr audiobook in two days. Excellent work.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the review copy.