A cold drink in one hand, a captivating book in the other – that’s our definition of a successful summer’s day.
To make sure you don’t run out of reading material, we’ve picked two titles for you. Take a look at these sun-soaked stories in search of THE summer book…
Where would you like to be swept away to? Provence? The Côte d’Azur? It’s all possible – with just these books!
CAROL DRINKWATER | ONE SUMMER IN PROVENCE
What is it about?
A season of secrets. . .Celia Grey appears to have the perfect life: married to Dominic, the man of her dreams, and living on a glorious, thriving vineyard in the south of France. To celebrate their good fortune, she decides to throw a huge party.
When she is contacted by a stranger who claims to be her long-lost son, David, the newborn she gave up at twenty and has never spoken of since, Celia impulsively invites him for the weekend of celebrations – without mentioning it to her husband.
Despite his surprise, Dominic graciously welcomes David and his unexpected companion – but secretly he harbours doubts. Is David really Celia’s son? And who is the mysterious young woman travelling with him?
Only Celia can decide how far she will go to hold everything together, to keep her perfect life from unravelling. . .
One Summer in Provence is a story of betrayal and belonging, and of discovering love in unexpected places.
FRANÇOISE SAGAN | BONJOUR TRISTESSE (1954)
What is it about?
Cécile goes on holiday to the Côte d’Azur with her widowed father Raymond and his current mistress Elsa. They enjoy warm days in the sea and balmy evenings on the terrace. However, their harmony is soon interrupted when Anne, a cultured and principled woman joins them and arouses her father’s interest. The remote, enigmatic Anne soon becomes Raymond’s lover and they announce their engagement. Anne’s educational rigour and her efforts to get Cécile to learn lead to growing resistance on her part. So Cécile and her lover Cyril hatch a plan to break them up.
The scandalous book was first made into a film in 1958. The pretty Jean Seberg – here Cecile – hatches the evil plan to thwart a romance between her father (David Niven – wow) and Anne (Deborah Kerr), who plays a hard-working dress designer and says things like ‘I wish I’d found a fabric the colour of this water’.
All the more reason to read the book? Well, there is a new big-screen adaptation by Canadian filmmaker Durga Chew-Bose into a feature film 2024, starring Lily McInerny, Claes Bang, Nailia Harzoune, Aliocha Schneider and Chloe Sevigny.
Dive in, take a deep breath: these books are guaranteed to put you in a good mood and provide optimistic ideas AND a successful summer of reading.
Lead image by RIVIERA BUZZ; ‘One Summer in Provence’ book cover courtesy Carol Drinkwater