Summer at Gaglow

by Esther Freud

Book Overview

Sarah is already in her late twenties with an acting career in London and a baby on the way when she learns from her father about Gaglow, his family's grand East German country estate that was seized before the war. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the estate will now come back to them.

Sarah attempts to solicit from her father all he knows about Gaglow: the three lucky sisters, Bina, Martha, and Eva; their masterly governess, Fraulein Schulze;...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880016728
• ISBN13: 9780880016728
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

A touching, brilliant novel

"Summer at Gaglow" is a compelling and poignant story that veers between that final golden summer before World War I and the present. If this book has a flaw it is that the last moments of innocence in August of 1914, filled as they were with sumptuous meals and large-scale entertainments and castle-like houses, are more compelling than the crimped present where money is short and apartments small. Yet Freud almost seamlessly glides between the two time periods. The writing is full of marvelous characters such as the mother's dogs, who follow her everywhere, and the three sisters of 1914, with their strange jealousies and obsessions. I heartily recommend this book as a perfect read for a long, quiet night.

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Summer at Gaglow made me feel like I was kicked back on a white wicker sofa in a cotton summer dress, with absolutely nothing to do but sink deeply into the beauty of this novel. The interplay between characters was beautifully casted. I became immersed in the characters, dying to know what would happen next--and toward the end, trying to figure out what really happened. Was it like her father said it was? Or her uncle? As the book reaches a conclusion, the narrations from past and present contradict one another, and it's up to you to think and ponder what is really going on. I absolutely loved it.The use of the English language was also very well done, with phrases such as "she beached herself up on the couch" used intelligently, so she never said "so-and-so was fat." Her description was incredible--I could picture everything she said.