The Summer Before the War

Set in the idyllic beauty of a late Edwardian summer in the country, where the passionate pursuit of unexpected love and the village outrage over the arrival of a female Latin teacher will all be swept away by the onset of a war no one could imagine. East Sussex, 1914. It's the end of an idyllic summer and Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his Aunt Agatha in the pretty coastal town of Rye. Casting aside the recent sabre rattling over the Balkans, Agatha has more immediate concerns; she has just risked her carefully built reputation by pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master. When Beatrice Nash arrives, it is clear she is significantly more free thinking - and attractive - than anyone believes a Latin teacher should be. For her part, mourning the death of her beloved father who has left her penniless, Beatrice simply wants to be left alone to pursue her teaching and writing. But just as Beatrice comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape, and the colourful characters that populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For despite Agatha's reassurances, the unimaginable is coming. Soon, everything will be tested as this small Sussex town and its inhabitants go to war.

About the Author :
Helen Simonson was born in Buckinghamshire and spent her teenage years in a small village near Rye in East Sussex. Her debut novel, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, was an international bestseller, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick, and was translated and published in twenty one countries. A graduate of the London School of Economics, Helen is married, with two grown sons, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. This is her second novel. Lucy Scott is a British actress who has been working in film and television since the early 1990s. She is best known for playing Charlotte Lucas in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. Her stage credits include Emma at the Tricycle Theatre, Search and Destroy as Mary at the New End Theatre and as Nikki in Things We Do for Love. She also appeared in an episode of comedy show Modern Toss. As well as acting, Scott worked as a script supervisor on the first episode of Popetown, called 'The Double'.

Review :
'A novel to cure your Downton Abbey withdrawal . . . a delightful story about nontraditional romantic relationships, class snobbery and the everybody-knows-everybody complications of living in a small community.' 'What begins as a study of a small-town society becomes a compelling account of war and its aftermath.'