A review by musser22627
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

4.0

The majority of the book is an insightful peek into British society just before the outbreak of WWII, from the perspective of a single young woman, a writer, recently orphaned, struggling to assert herself as an independent adult in a sexist and classist society. Her friends are delightful and her wannabe suitors, generally pathetic. Warning: It becomes achingly sad once the war breaks. (Spoiler: the dog dies. I hate it when that happens!!) Yet there were many quotable lines and I still thoroughly enjoyed it as a whole. Great writing with fully fleshed out characters.