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The Summer Country: A Novel
The Summer Country: A Novel
The Summer Country: A Novel
Audiobook16 hours

The Summer Country: A Novel

Written by Lauren Willig

Narrated by Nicola Barber

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

The New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her biggest, boldest, and most ambitious novel yet—a sweeping Victorian epic of lost love, lies, jealousy, and rebellion set in colonial Barbados.

Barbados, 1854: Emily Dawson has always been the poor cousin in a prosperous English merchant clan-- merely a vicar’s daughter, and a reform-minded vicar’s daughter, at that. Everyone knows that the family’s lucrative shipping business will go to her cousin, Adam, one day.  But when her grandfather dies, Emily receives an unexpected inheritance: Peverills, a sugar plantation in Barbados—a plantation her grandfather never told anyone he owned. 

When Emily accompanies her cousin and his new wife to Barbados, she finds Peverills a burnt-out shell, reduced to ruins in 1816, when a rising of enslaved people sent the island up in flames. Rumors swirl around the derelict plantation; people whisper of ghosts.

Why would her practical-minded grandfather leave her a property in ruins?  Why are the neighboring plantation owners, the Davenants, so eager to acquire Peverills? The answer lies in the past— a tangled history of lies, greed, clandestine love, heartbreaking betrayal, and a bold bid for freedom.

A brilliant, multigenerational saga in the tradition of THE THORN BIRDS and NORTH AND SOUTH, THE SUMMER COUNTRY will beguile readers with its rendering of families, heartbreak, and the endurance of hope against all odds. 

This audiobook includes an episode of the Book Club Girl Podcast, featuring an interview with Lauren Willig about The Summer Country.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJun 4, 2019
ISBN9780062933263
Author

Lauren Willig

Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Band of Sisters and Two Wars and a Wedding, plus four popular historical novels cowritten with Beatriz Williams and Karen White. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband, two young children, and lots and lots of coffee.

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Reviews for The Summer Country

Rating: 4.020491819672131 out of 5 stars
4/5

122 ratings24 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    So good! I was completely immersed. I felt like I was right there. The characters are robust; the setting is perfect. Everything comes together brilliantly. Wonderful narration, beautiful story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Summer Country is a sweeping tale of Barbados in the 1800s. It follows several families from different stations from the sugar plantation owners to the business managers to the slaves. The book takes place in two time periods 1812 to 1816 and 1854.In 1854 Emily Dawson loses her beloved grandfather. He was a force in her life and while others saw him as a hard man Emily loved him. At the reading of his will she and everyone else is very surprised to learn that he left her a sugar plantation on Barbados. Actually, no one even knew he owned it. So she, her cousin Adam and his wife Laura all head to the island; Emily to see her new possession and Adam to take over the the family shipping business.In Barbados her grandfather’s agent welcomes them but they are surprised to find him to be a black man. In fact he is an ex slave who has done quite well for himself. His nephew, Nathaniel Braithwaite, is there as well – he is an Edinburgh educated doctor and works in the local hospital. Emily is strongly advised to sell her plantation but she wants to see it before she makes any decisions. Nathaniel reluctantly takes her out there and she finds the house is a ruin, a casualty of a slave uprising in 1816. While out visiting the site the neighbor comes to chase away what he thinks are trespassers but soon learns he has a new neighbor.The Davenants own the neighboring plantation and soon Emily and her cousin and his wife find themselves comfortably ensconced at Beckles under the watchful eye of Mrs. Davenant. She tries to buy Emily’s plantation but she does not want to sell so she agrees to help her learn but instead she insist Emily learn some basics from her grandson. She hopes pushing them together will result in a match.Emily is a woman who does not need a man to make her world right. She wants to learn what she can of her grandfather’s life on Barbados and what it would take to make her plantation run again – without using slaves. What she does learn is a family history she was not expecting.Oh what a story. Or maybe I should say stories. I was enthralled from the first page and I will tell you right now that I had the world’s worst time putting this book down to go to sleep. I read a quarter of it one evening and finished it the next day. I didn’t want it to end. I found myself so wrapped up in this world created by Ms. Willig that I wanted to stay.I didn’t know anything about Barbados and its history. The Summer Country gives a small peak into it but it is a character driven book and the characters and their stories are compelling. Love, hate, revenge, and redemption all play out against the backdrop of this beautiful tropical island. I felt like I was there with Emily, riding among the sugar cane. The plot twists are surprising and the ending was a delight.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐THE SUMMER COUNTRY Lauren Willing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I absolutely loved this book, and took my time reading it so I could savor every beautifully written word. Historical fiction at its best, well researched, and an era I've not read before. Set in lush Barbados, in a dual timeline (1812-16 and 1854), I enjoyed the intertwining stories and generations of characters. Highly recommend!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This historical novel takes us to Barbados and shows us a tangled story of love and betrayal. In the 1854 portion of the story, Emily Dawson has traveled with her cousin Adam and his wife Laura to Barbados because she learns that she has inherited a sugar plantation from her grandfather. She finds Peverills to be a burnt out, derelict place when she finally gets a chance to see it. And it is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the Portuguese Girl - a child who died when the plantation was burned by rebelling slaves. They are taken in by Mrs. Davenant who owns the neighboring plantation Beckles. Emily hopes that Mrs. Davenant will teach her about restoring a sugar plantation. But Mrs. Davenant has her own hidden agenda which she doesn't choose to share with Emily. She also seems very intent on making a match between Emily and her grandson George.The other portion of the book begins in 1812 when Charles Davenant returns to Peverills after spending years in England being educated and studying law. His father has died, Charles has inherited, and he returns to a place that isn't what he remembers from his childhood. He should be interested in Mary Ann from the Beckles plantation because he needs to marry an heiress but instead he falls in love with her slave Jenny - a situation that must be kept secret. Since he is not able to buy Jenny, their love must be kept secret and their meetings infrequent and secret. Charles has also come back to Barbados filled with progressive ideals and different views about slavery.The two time periods were entwined and woven to reveal both the present and the past. I liked Emily budding romance with Dr. Nathaniel Braithwaite who began life as a slave at Beckles plantation. I liked the way they got close while battling the cholera epidemic that decimated the island. This was an intriguing story filled with the beauty and color of Barbados and the darkness that slavery cast over the people and the time. It was filled with interesting characters who had all sorts of moral dilemmas to contend with. I especially enjoyed Emily who learned some very surprising things about her family and Jenny who was probably the character I most sympathized with.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've been reading Ms. Willig's books since the first Pink Carnation book came out, and she just keeps getting better and better. She writes more historical fiction now than earlier (though the Pink Carnation series was also historical as well as romantic), and they're well researched and enthralling reads.Emily has inherited a rundown sugar plantation in Barbados during the Victorian era. The story alternates between her earlier ancestors' time in the Regency era when slavery was at its last gasps in the British colony and Emily's attempt to understand why her grandfather left her this ruin. I do love the way she ends one chapter that picks up in the other time period seamlessly. The characters are interesting; all are shades of gray with both morals and faults. The ending was a bit of a surprise but also very satisfying. Fans of Diana Gabaldon or Susanna Kearsley will definitely like this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Emily Dawson's grandfather leaves her a sugar plantation in Barbados. She sails to the island along with a cousin who will manage other her grandfather's other holdings and his wife Laura. She discovers the plantation house burned to the ground but that a couple other homes including the bookkeeper's home remain. A nearby plantation survived the slave uprising of the early 19th century, escaping the fire. The story alternates between the two 19th century time periods (1812-1815 and 1854). In the intervening years, slavery ended in Barbados. Cholera rages on the island and will take someone close to her. She is able to practice her nursing skills by helping a capable island doctor. She must also come to terms with a story her grandfather did not tell her. I loved this book and the story it tells. I want to read some of the historical sources cited in the author's historical note.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Summer Country is a long winded historical fiction novel about the history of slavery in Barbados through a few families who owned sugar plantations and slaves. It also described the horrendous medical treatments used to combat illnesses such as Cholera. The story in and of itself mentions many examples of cruelty that man has conducted towards other human beings and the laws that protect one over the other because of the color of skin. Then there were laws that prohibit people from marrying each other and from manumission. Because the book was so needlessly long it is given a rating of three and one half stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Multiple timelines and a lot of characters and names that you need to work to keep organized in your mind. I guess I haven't been in the right mood to really tackle it whole-heartedly--I should definitely pick it up and give it another go. I received this book as a LibraryThing Early Reviewers advanced copy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was an interesting read. Barbados and sugar cane - not topics I was familiar with so I really enjoyed being pulled into a whole new world. There were a lot of family to try and track during the read and some of the relationships just didn't come across as natural to me. But definitely an interesting historical read. And can I just mention that I find myself being turned off by books that don't have an appropriate amount of white space on the pages. You know those pages that are just densely packed with words. I think it's decreasing my enjoyment of the actual book as I am noticing a pattern of having to force myself to open the book back up. Maybe it's an age (eyesight) issue, or the color of the page, or the font, or maybe it's just the book. I don't know.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I won an early copy of this novel through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers group. Ah, returning to a Willig novel is like returning home for me. I appreciate the voice all of her books are written in, at once setting us down in the heroine’s place and time. This one, to me, felt like there were a bigger cast of characters than in other novels. It took a bit to get names and situations down, and the beginning of the novel does a lot to dig our heels into Barbados plantation life. I loved how the middle of the story took a twist, and opened to a trial I did not see coming. The main characters are well fleshed out and all main plot points connected. This is a great summer read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Perhaps it is because I live close to sugar cane fields and I know that smell of burning cane that I was drawn into Lauren Willig's vivid descriptions of 19th century Barbados sugar plantations and the story of their owners and slaves. The novel alternates between two time periods, 1854 when Emily arrives in Barbados expecting to live at and manage the sugar plantation left to her by her grandfather, and the period of 1812 to 1816, which provides the backstory of that plantation, the neighboring one, the two families that owned them, and Emily's grandfather's role. The role of slavery in the running of the plantations is a major feature of the story, as is the eventual slave uprising. There are lots of plot twists, many of which I did not see coming. Character development is strong; some I loved and some I really hated! This book feels extremely well researched, and is beautifully written. This is the first book I've read by this author, but it will definitely not be the last. Thanks to LibraryThing and William Morrow for an Early Reviewer copy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read and really enjoyed Lauren Willig’s book The English Wife last year so I was excited that I got a review copy of her most recent novel, The Summer Country, from the publisher for review. I’ve really been in the mood for historical fiction this year so it came at the perfect time too. The book alternates between 1854 and 1812-1816. Emily arrives in Barbados in 1854 to claim the plantation her grandfather left her. While there, she meets Mrs. Davenant who grew up and owns the neighboring plantation. As Emily gets the lay of the land and learns more about her plantation, Peverills, we as readers learn more about the past and who Emily really is. As the story continues, more and more is revealed that tie the past in with Emily’s present. There were a few twists that I did not see coming but completely made the story great. The writing was incredibly vivid which made it really easy to envision everything from the scenery to the characters to the major events that occurred. There were some really great characters in this book. I loved the banter between Emily and Nathaniel. My heart broke for Charles and Jenny. Because of the setting and time, you may have already guessed but I will say that this book does involve slavery so be prepared for that. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely be on the lookout to read more from Lauren Willig in the future.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Summer Country is a sweeping tale of Barbados in the 1800s. It follows several families from different stations from the sugar plantation owners to the business managers to the slaves. The book takes place in two time periods 1812 to 1816 and 1854.In 1854 Emily Dawson loses her beloved grandfather. He was a force in her life and while others saw him as a hard man Emily loved him. At the reading of his will she and everyone else is very surprised to learn that he left her a sugar plantation on Barbados. Actually, no one even knew he owned it. So she, her cousin Adam and his wife Laura all head to the island; Emily to see her new possession and Adam to take over the the family shipping business.In Barbados her grandfather’s agent welcomes them but they are surprised to find him to be a black man. In fact he is an ex slave who has done quite well for himself. His nephew, Nathaniel Braithwaite, is there as well – he is an Edinburgh educated doctor and works in the local hospital. Emily is strongly advised to sell her plantation but she wants to see it before she makes any decisions. Nathaniel reluctantly takes her out there and she finds the house is a ruin, a casualty of a slave uprising in 1816. While out visiting the site the neighbor comes to chase away what he thinks are trespassers but soon learns he has a new neighbor.The Davenants own the neighboring plantation and soon Emily and her cousin and his wife find themselves comfortably ensconced at Beckles under the watchful eye of Mrs. Davenant. She tries to buy Emily’s plantation but she does not want to sell so she agrees to help her learn but instead she insist Emily learn some basics from her grandson. She hopes pushing them together will result in a match.Emily is a woman who does not need a man to make her world right. She wants to learn what she can of her grandfather’s life on Barbados and what it would take to make her plantation run again – without using slaves. What she does learn is a family history she was not expecting.Oh what a story. Or maybe I should say stories. I was enthralled from the first page and I will tell you right now that I had the world’s worst time putting this book down to go to sleep. I read a quarter of it one evening and finished it the next day. I didn’t want it to end. I found myself so wrapped up in this world created by Ms. Willig that I wanted to stay.I didn’t know anything about Barbados and its history. The Summer Country gives a small peak into it but it is a character driven book and the characters and their stories are compelling. Love, hate, revenge, and redemption all play out against the backdrop of this beautiful tropical island. I felt like I was there with Emily, riding among the sugar cane. The plot twists are surprising and the ending was a delight.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Historical fiction author Lauren Willig usually writes books set in England. While on vacation in the Caribbean, she visited a museum and heard a story about a plantation fire that killed the Portuguese ward of the owner. The child was neither his ward, nor Portuguese, but was his daughter by an enslaved woman. Willig wanted to know what happened to the mother. Did she live there too? Was she able to claim and care for her child? Did she die in the fire as well?She turned this story into her latest book, The Summer Country, a book she lovingly refers to as 'the Barbados book.' Set in two time periods, 1812 and in 1854, where we meet Emily, a young vicar's daughter who travels from her home in England to Barbados, where she finds that she has inherited a sugar plantation from her grandfather. No one even knew he had a sugar plantation.Emily finds the plantation is burned down and in terrible ruins, and she is discouraged. The family that owns the plantation next door wants to buy the plantation from her, and although they seem to be very welcoming to her and her brother, when she hesitates to sell they turn unfriendly.Arriving in Bridgetown, Emily and her brother Adam meet Nathaniel, a black doctor who lives with his white aunt and uncle. Nathaniel invites Emily to visit the British Royal Infirmary where he works, and she is intrigued.Emily and Nathaniel are attracted to each other, and when a cholera epidemic hits the island, Emily pitches in to help, much to the consternation of her brother. The cholera epidemic actually happened at that time, and it plays a role in the story.In 1812, we find out more about the plantations and the mystery of how Emily's grandfather's plantation came to become abandoned and burned down. (This is where the Portuguese ward comes into play.)Willig's research is so impeccably detailed, you feel like you have been dropped right into 19th century Barbados. You can feel the heat, smell the flowers, and taste the food. My husband and I have spent time in Barbados, and the history of the island is so prominent, more so than any other Caribbean island. The British influence is still very visible, and Willig brings the history of the island to the forefront of her incredible story. (Lauren Willig has a book club reading guide on her website and it's filled with insight on the writing of The Summer Country. It's fascinating.)You'll find yourself lost in The Summer Country, and I enjoyed seeing how Emily took charge and asserted herself, even over the objections of her brother and the times she lived in. You're torn between racing through the story to find out what happened at the burned-out plantation and wanting to savor the atmospheric details and remarkable writing. The epilogue is the perfect ending to a magnificent book. Historical fiction fans should put The Summer Country on their summer reading list. I highly recommend it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was excited to read this as I love historical fiction and it was a setting I hadn't previously read about. There are two timelines, one set before emancipation in Barbados, and one set after, but each begins with someone inheriting a plantation named Peverills. I was completely transported and really enjoyed the first 100 pages. By about page 200, however, I realized that I didn't like any of the characters in the 1812 story line. Each one was in one way or another self-centered and either insensible to or heedless of the pain they caused others. Overall I really did enjoy the way this was written. Rich descriptions, atmospheric, and the narration style too: I loved the way the author expressed what was going on in the character's minds. It felt both fresh and genuine. I would definitely read more by this author. I would just hope for characters that I could like better. Thank you LibraryThing Early Reviewers for the copy of this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really loved Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series, and I was looking forward to her new work of historical fiction. This book took place in Barbados in the early and mid 19th century, a setting which was new me. I was eager to read and learn about life on the British plantations in that time and place. And although the book was well written,, it never really grabbed me. I have to admit I’m getting a bit tired of this whole “dual time” setting, in which related storylines taking place generations apart are told in alternating chapters. It is used so often now, and in this particular story the settings were the same, and the character names were similar enough that it got confusing at times. However, I did enjoy the book more as I got into it, and I appreciated the plot twists and turns in the last few chapters. I didn’t love it, but I’m glad I read it!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was an interesting time period and place that I was not very familiar with, which added to the plot for me. Several good twists and turns.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Barbados in the early 1800’s and in the mid-1800s went from slavery to emancipation. This was a time when women took a supportive role, yet Willig has made strong females the main characters of a family saga. When Emily is left a run-down sugar cane plantation, she and her cousin and wife leave England to visit Barbados. Moving back and forth between the story of a female slave and Emily, the reader learns only about Emily’s history. It’s a satisfying historical novel and will make me see Barbados differently when I visit the country again. (LibraryThing review copy)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really wanted to like this book. I love reading historical fiction about places I'm not familiar with. Throw in some mystery and I'm even happier. I just couldn't make a connection to any of the characters which made the story slow going for me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Emily Dawson travels to Barbados in the mid 1800s to explore a sugar plantation that her grandfather had mysteriously left her. The author tells the story in two timeframes, going back fifty years to discover family secrets long buried.This was a beautifully written historical family saga and very compelling to read. Lauren Willig is a new author for me and I’ll be looking forward to reading more of her books. Loved it!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    We might think we know many things from history but more has been forgotten or hidden than has ever been written down, giving us an incomplete knowledge of actual people and events of the past. This is true on a grand scale, but it can also be true on a much smaller, more personal scale as well. In Lauren Willig's newest novel, The Summer Country, the secrets of the past change history in a very personal way.In 1854, Emily Dawson travels from England to Barbados with her cousin Adam and his wife so that she can look into the mysterious inheritance her grandfather has left her. Adam's father (and by extension Adam) inherited the family's lucrative shipping business while Emily, a favorite of her grandfather, has been left a previously unmentioned sugar plantation on Barbados. She cannot think why she's inherited Peverills, especially when she discovers that it's in ruins, having been burned in Bussa's Rebellion in 1816. Determining to learn all about the plantation, she ends up staying at Beckles, a neighboring plantation, run with an iron fist by the assertive and intimidating Mrs. Davenant, who clearly wants to make a match between her grandson, George, and Emily.In 1812, Charles Davenant returns from England in the wake of his father's death to take up the reins of Peverills. His relationship with younger brother Robert, who was never offered the chance to go to England, has soured and is fraught with jealousy on Robert's part. In addition to the tension within his own house, Chalres is faced with tension without as well in the persons of Mary Anne Beckles, the owner of Beckles plantation, her domineering uncle Colonel Lyons, and the quiet, inscrutable enslaved maid Jenny who must tread carefully between her mistress and her natural father, the Colonel. Charles is idealistic, having returned to Barbados with progressive ideas about freeing slaves and cooperative farming but these ideas and his goal of changing the system from within aren't shared by everyone, including his brother and Mary Anne, and when it matters most to him that they come to fruition, he will fail.The two different timelines alternate back and forth, revealing small hints and pieces of family history as Emily moves through her own daily goings-on, searching for answers, enlisting the help of George Davenant from Beckles and Dr. Braithwaite, the nephew of her late grandfather's black partner, Mr. Turner, as she digs into the question of Peverills and just why this ruined place was left to her. The characters in both timelines are quite well fleshed out, with the possible exception of Emily's grandfather, which is both surprising and in a way, necessary. Emily as a character is very forthright and forward thinking in ways that might seem anachronistic for her time except for the constant reiteration of her parents' pedigrees as reformers and humanists. The novel is almost Gothic in tone, with an undercurrent of creeping uneasiness pervading Beckles and Emily's interactions with Mrs. Davenant. This same whiff of menace weaves through Beckles in the 1812 story line as well. The revelation of the family secrets was slow and steady, just enough to feed speculation. The chapter bridges, the first sentence of a new chapter echoing the last sentence of the previous chapter is quite clever and helps to connect the two different timelines nicely. The epilogue, set between the two time periods of the narrative, was an interesting and unconventional way to end the book but it worked. It did take a bit of reading to get into the story and then the family secrets weren't terribly hard to figure out but the story was ultimately compelling. Readers who enjoy historical fiction, who are interested in exotic locations like Barbados, who like uncovering family secrets, and who thrill to a suggestion of the Gothic will be well rewarded here.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This beautifully written historical novel is set in Barbados in the 1800s. It is the story of two neighboring sugar cane plantations and the people who live there. The timeline alternates between 1812 and 1854 as the connections between the two stories are gradually revealed. The characters and setting are so beautifully drawn, I found myself becoming totally immersed in each story. There is love and loss, mystery and tragedy, deception and betrayal. This is a book that will stay with you for a long time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lauren Willig has written a historical novel that brings the island of Barbados to live in 2 separate time frames 50 years apart. In 1854, Emily comes to Barbados from England to see a plantation that her grandfather left her. Accompanying her on this journey is her cousin and his new wife.No one knew that this plantation existed or why it was left to Emily.The story moves back and forth from 1811 to 1854.The two stories are intertwined with family members telling the story as Emily learns bits and pieces of the history that came before her. We watch that history unfold as it happens in 1811. By book end, the reader has learned the whole story, an engrossing family saga.The historical material that brings these 2 periods in time alive and fascinating proves the excellent research the author has done.Very atmospheric, beautifully written.Read as an ARC from LibraryThing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Thank you LibraryThing giveaways for this advance copy of The Summer country by Lauren Willig. I loved this sweeping saga set in Barbados. I found the storytelling to unfold at just the right pace, and the characters to be very well written and complex. There was a bit of mystery thrown into the story to keep you guessing. Very well done and very enjoyable. I highly recommend this book! A great summer read.