FICTION

The Summer Before the War

by Helen Simonson
. 9780812993103. Simonson, Helen. The Summer Beforethe War. Random. Mar. 2016. 496p. ISBN 9780812993103. $28; ebk. ISBN 9780679644644. F
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Schoolteacher Beatrice Nash is eager to start a new job teaching Latin in the small English seaside town of Rye in the summer of 1914. She soon has a front-row seat as local squabbles regarding such matters as whether a woman should be teaching Latin at all give way to the more pressing concerns of World War I. A group of refugees from Belgium throw the orderly lives of Rye's residents into tumult, and the town is soon asked to make even larger sacrifices as its sons depart for the front.
VERDICT Simonson's episodic descriptions of life in Rye as the war looms are a good bet for those looking for a relatively gentle World War I-era historical with a touch of romance. The book falters a bit when it switches away from Rye to cover life in the trenches, and the climax there feels a bit melodramatic, but Simonson's good-hearted, likable characters make up for these weaknesses and will remind readers of those from her best-selling debut, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. [See Prepub Alert, 9/21/15.]
Reviewed by Mara Bandy, Champaign P.L., IL , Feb 01, 2016
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