A Summer in the Country

by Marcia Willett

Book Overview

Marcia Willett's previous novel, A Week in Winter , her first to be published in the United States, received a rousing welcome from readers and reviewers alike. Her new novel, A Summer in the Country... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312997159
• ISBN13: 9780312997151
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 423 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Same book as "A Summer in the Country"

I love all of Marcia Willett's books, but I find it maddening when I buy a duplicate because the title has been changed. Potential purchasers should be alerted to the fact that this same novel also appears as A SUMMER IN THE COUNTRY.

A Summer in the Country

I just love Marcia Willett. This was the first book of hers that I read and was impressed with the way she drew her characters. You live their lives for the short while the book lasts and you relive it afterwards. I thought it was most enjoyable and can't wait to read her others.

A book length therapy session

I bought this book while delayed in the airport figuring it'd be a throw away since I don't make good decisions amidst airline debacles. It was a bit confusing at the beginning since there are quite a few characters and their names are a bit wacky. The author being English served up a lot of unfamiliar names and expressions for things too. Let me tell ya, once into it I could not put it down. But I did because it's one of those books that you never want to end. I say it was one long therapy session because the experiences were ones that many of my friends or I have lived and the author did such a great job of helping everyone come to grips with their lives and the decisions they made. They all helped each other do this and I learned so much that helped me personally. I would love to quote some lines here but IMO it would ruin your discovering all this for yourself. I think the absolute best part was that everyone got a second chance. I don't know about you, but my second chances have been sorely lacking. There was a happy ending for everyone. I've started reading A Week In Winter and it promises to be just as much fun and insightful as this one. Now that I'm familiar with her writing style and the English words and expressions, it's easy reading. If you want enjoyment and a bit of therapy, this is a good read.

A Bright New Voice

"A summer in the Country" is UK author Marcia Willett's second offering for the U.S. market, and like her first, "A Week in Winter," it's a keeper!In a style similar to Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy, and yet uniquely her own, Willett once again weaves a tale that draws the reader in on the very first page, and never lets go. The plot concerns a small group of very likeable people whose lives and problems intertwine in the most interesting ways...Bridget is the very attractive, 50-something owner of a bed-and-breakfast business just on the edge of England's moor country. The business consists of a number of cottages on an estate she has inherited from her late father. Bridget's husband of 30 years, Humphrey, is an officer in the navy, and so away for many months at a time--and Bridget values her privacy as much as she loves her husband.Into this serene and lovely mix comes Bridget's gadabout mother, Frummie (short for Freda), well into her 70s, but still the young flirt she used to be--at least in her mind. Frummie needs a place to live, and Bridget, who has never gotten along with her mother, has grudgingly given her one of the cottages. The issue between Bridget and her mother is Jemima, the daughter born to Frummie after she left a young Bridget and her father to flee with a lover.Bridget's mixed feelings about her younger sister Jemima (who is a wonderfully portrayed free spirit and just irresistable) and her mother, combined with a secret she cannot reveal, make up a large part of the book--but not all.We also meet Louise, a regular boarder at the bed and breakfast who has become friends with Bridget--and who seems dangerously near to a breakdown over a secret of her own. We don't know what it is, but we start to worry about Louise as much as the rest of the characters do.Hilarious comic relief to the sometimes heavy plot is provided by Frummie and her equally old but equally vampish longtime friend, Margo. The interplay between the two old harridans is truly inspired.In short, this is a simply delicious book--the second wonderful surprise from Willett. Read it and see!

Wonderful!

After you read all Pilcher, Karon and Binchy's books, you need to find another great author with the same style -- well, you have found it in this author. I loved this book!