Browsing in our bookshop, a lady excused herself and excitedly reached across me to pick up a copy of this. As I was looking to complete a 4-for-3 offer, I took it as a sign from our biblio-overlords and bought it.
I didn’t even realised until I was home that I’d read and really enjoyed Fredrik Backman before – Bear Town. The overlords never get these things wrong, that’s why they are the overlords I guess.
It’s a iterative telling of the last summer shared by 4 teen friends, gradually revealing more and more as the story is related 25 years later.
There are some beautiful lines about friendship, love, and trust… but also the occasional hint of slightly cheesy dialogue. It’s a whimsical but dark book, lovely to read but perhaps needing to be a touch shorter through the middle third.
