Saturday 13 October 2007

The Summer of Secrets by Martina Reilly

The Summer of Secrets
Martina Reilly
Sphere

HOPE is a no-hoper - she's just lost another job (her sixteenth, she thinks), and she decides to take off.

Literally. But the plane has other ideas, and when she's one of the few survivors dragged out, her two best friends, Julie and Adam, take three months each off work and bring her home to the little Kerry town where she grew up.

They're the sane ones. At least, that’s what she thinks. But it turns out that Julie and Adam have 'issues' of their own, even as Hope makes her way through counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sounds like a packet of misery, doesn't it? But it's not - this is one of the funniest books of the year, and a cuddly bundle of fun and entertainment.

As Hope and the grouchy but gorgeous artist in the cottage up the mountain eye each other and throw sarcastic remarks back and forth, Julie tries to face down her ambitious parents, and Adam, the rich successful one, proves a mess.

But it all ends happily, in a finale that'll have the most hard-hearted reader wiping tears - and not just of laughter - from the eyes.

xxxxx stars

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