The Girls of Summer

A psychological novel about the complex nature of memory, trauma, power, and consent, pitched against the backdrop of a life-changing summer in the Greek isles, for readers of My Dark Vanessa.

“That place has been my whole life. Everything I thought I knew about myself was constructed in those few months I spent within touching distance of the sea. Everything I am is because Alistair loved me.”

Rachel has been in love with Alistair for fifteen years. Even though she’s now married to someone else. Even though she was a teenager when they met. Even though he is twenty years older than her.

Rachel and Alistair’s summer love affair on a remote, sun-soaked Greek island has consumed her since she was seventeen, obliterating everything in its wake. Now in her thirties, Rachel becomes increasingly obsessed with reliving the events of that long-ago summer, and in the process, she reconnects with the other girls she knew on the island. Girls like her, who came for an adventure and got so much more than they’d bargained for.

But dark and deeply suppressed secrets about Alistair rise to the surface, Rachel is forced to reconsider the story she’s been telling herself about their relationship, and about her time working at the bar owned by Alistair’s business partner, an enigmatic and wealthy man, who controlled so much more than she could have ever realized.

Joining a post #MeToo discourse, The Girls of Summer is a riveting exploration of memory and trauma, what it takes to reframe, and reclaim, your own story, and the lies we tell in the name of love.