bucherca49 's review for:

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

3.0

---

There was a lot I liked about this novel. I would have liked more focus on the characters of Beatrice and Agatha (or maybe less other material, which seemed to detract from their stories). For example, Beatrice's teaching begins at the halfway point and then the novel quickly moves away to other things. I also had moments when I thought the author is trying too hard to teach us about life in Edwardian England.