The Summer Country audiobook

A run-down sugar plantation was the last thing Emily thought her uncle would leave to her, but Emily was thrilled about it even though her cousin wasn't.Emily, her cousin, and his wife traveled to Barbados to meet a few people and to see the plantation. We meet the family from 1812 and the opulence of their home, food, and life style and then turn to 1845 and meet “friends” of the family. The connection between the time periods was smoothly done. I really liked how Ms. Willig ended one chapter with a comment and started the next chapter with that comment but in a different time period.Some of the characters were quite devious, and as the pages turned we find out there was more to the family than what was known or heard and something about the plantation and about the Davenant family that someone wanted to keep a secret.Ms. Willig definitely knows how to use adjectives for describing the characters and settings with her beautiful prose. The characters are described and perfectly portrayed for the time periods.It was as though I were right there immersed in the lives of the characters whether they were the wealthy or the indentured. I became attached to a few of the characters.If you enjoy learning about past cultures, delving into life in another country and century, and finding out family secrets that were kept for years, THE SUMMER COUNTRY should be on your summer reading list. You will definitely get a vocabulary work out. :)THE SUMMER COUNTRY is another beautiful, enjoyable, well-researched read by Lauren Willig. 5/5This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Lauren Willig's THE SUMMER COUNTRY is a sumptuous read, evoking M.M. Kaye's lush and sweeping tales of nineteenth century colonial life. Set in the island location of Barbados, Willig attains the ideal aim of the historical fiction genre: educating the reader about a little-known part of history while thoroughly engaging them in the stories of the characters. I read THE SUMMER COUNTRY slowly - doling out exquisite chapters one at a time - because there are too few books written today that harken back to that delicious way of storytelling that doesn't rush things just to keep up with modern trends. I would count this one as a new classic and encourage every reader who cares about quality writing to quickly add this one to their list of to-be-favorites.

I want to thank Haper Collins for this ARC. I do love Historical novels but did find this one a little slow in the beginning. Trying to go back and forth from the year 1812 to the year 1854 Barbados and keep the characters straight was a tad tricky. But to Lauren Willig's writing skills I did become totally engrossed in this wonderful story. I would definitely recommend this book.

I read a lot of historical fiction and noticed the genre seems to be WW2 heavy. I just finished The Summer Country and absolutely loved it. Yes, it’s historical fiction but a subject not widely known. Lauren Willig’s research shines through as she expertly blends fact with fiction. One of my favorite books is The Thorn Birds and The Summer Country has that same pull for me...sweeping family saga that I don’t want to put down and characters that stick with me long after I finish. The Summer Country is my favorite book of 2019!

The Summer Country by Lauren Willig was the first book that I had read by her that she wrote by herself. I had read two other books that she wrote with Beatrice Williams and Karen White. What a wonderful family multi-generational saga that took place in Barbados and alternated between the years 1812, when slavery and sugar plantations were prevalent to 1854. I knew little about the history of Barbados so I found it very enlightening and enjoyable to read. Lauren Willig was able to capture, through her brilliant and gorgeous writing, those periods in time. She made them feel authentic and she really brought the characters and time period to life. I was totally captivated by this story from the very first page and found it very hard to put this book down. In February 1854, Emily Dawson traveled to Barbados with her cousin Adam and his new bride, Laura. Her Grandfather, Jonathan Fenty had left Emily the sugar plantation, Peverills, in Barbados, in his will. Emily was not sure why her grandfather had left her his sugar plantation. When she discovered that the plantation was in ruins, having never been repaired from the uprising and fire brought on by the enslaved people of Barbados in 1816, she was even more puzzled. Emily's grandfather had never mentioned the plantation or his life in Barbados to her while he was alive. She became very curious about her grandfather's life in Barbados and slowly began to uncover secrets about her family that had been hidden for generations. Lauren Willig's research about the slave trade and the ownership of slaves in Barbados in the early 1800's was well done. Jenny, Mary Anne Beckles' personal slave was really her cousin but Mary Anne never acknowledged this nor ever thought of setting her free. Charles and Robert Davenant owned Peverills. Their plantation and Beckles stood side by side. It was always a thought of combining the two plantations. At first, Mary Anne had her sights on marrying Charles for this reason but Charles had no interests in Mary Anne. Charles became infatuated with Mary Anne's slave, Jenny. Fate brought Jenny and Charles together in a forbidden love. In those days it was forbidden by law for a white man to love or marry a slave. Their love for each other, though, was beautiful yet tragic. They had to sneak around and meet whenever they could but they were forced to keep the love they felt for each other hidden. The consequences their love affair produced were unbearable. Jenny and Charles orchestrated the courtship between Charles' brother Robert and Mary Anne which also ended in tragedy.Lauren Willig did an excellent job of portraying the Cholera outbreak in the 1850's in Barbados. It was a devastating time in the history of Barbados. So many lives were lost. In the story, Emily's cousin Adam lost his life to the devastating disease. Emily learned that her cousin and Laura never had a good marriage. Laura had always been Emily's best friend and Emily was sad to discover this information but glad to have Laura back. The Summer Country by Lauren Willig was a sensational book, sweeping through decades of hidden secrets left to be discovered. I enjoyed reading this book tremendously and highly recommend it.

This is my first Willig, a gorgeous narrative set in exotic Barbados in 1812 and 1854. Emily Dawson inherits Peverills, a sugar plantation destroyed by an uprising of slaves. Owners of the adjacent plantation want desperately to own it. Why? As the multigenerational story unfolds, the truth reveals forbidden romance between owner and enslaved, terrible betrayal, a brave fight for freedom, and enough island Victorian atmosphere to absorb you for days. An eye-opening look at British slavery in the Colonial Caribbean, a bit slow to start with a host of characters to get straight, but well worth the hours spent. 5/5Pub Date 04 Jun 2019. #TheSummerCountry #LaurenWillig

Instead of summarizing the story, I will be reviewing my likes/dislikes for the novel. The characters in the novel were three-dimensional and conceivable. As noted in the summary of this story, the chapters alternate between time-periods rather than characters/POV. I found both time-periods equally enthralling because of the enigma of characters and the lineage, thereof, involved. The love story, deceitful relationships, and family history is carefully crafted.The focus of the slave(s) was on the innate character and the thoughts of the slave, rather than what was physically suffered and the explicit brutality that was endured. The notable and frequent grotesque nature of the physical treatment of slaves is not as detailed and accounted for as a result. Because of this focus, some of what was endured seems left out or ignored. The same is felt towards the topic of gender equality during this time; the subject was included but not explicitly detailed.The time period was on point. So much so, that there are many words included from that time period that are uncommon today. I have included a picture of a couple of these, but the entire novel itself had a plethora of vernacular that I was unfamiliar with. (Because there are so many of these words used, I recommend reading the Kindle edition so that you can simply highlight the word on your Kindle and find the meaning instantly.)The setting was a unique one, but was slightly missed. The author did describe what Barbados looked like, but the reader does not actually feel totally immersed in the actual Barbadian culture itself; this might be due to the bulk of the story happening on the plantation rather than within the city.Through this story the author poses the following--Does blood make a family? What is the relationship between justice and justification? Does the law of nature trump the law of man? Does freedom primarily reside in the physical or the emotional?Although there were some aspects that could have been better, this novel is still a 5 star. The story-line was so cultivating and the characters so carefully molded, it is definitely hard to stop reading.

I'm bumping my rating up from 4.5 to 5 because I finished this book for the first time a couple of weeks ago, then restarted it right away and read it again. So I've read it twice in the past three weeks. It is breathtaking, and I found so much more depth to the story in the second reading since I knew everything that would come to pass by the end of the book.The Summer Country by Lauren Willig is wonderful, fantastic, brilliant. This story was so immersive that it pulled me in and I felt like I was right there, watching everything unfold with both generations. Taking place over about forty years, this story has everything: wealth and slavery, love and romance, betrayal and secrecy. At first, I wasn’t sure how the two timelines would connect, but by the time they intersected, the stories felt seamless and I was in awe of Ms. Willig’s work.1812: Charles Davenant is the owner of the large Peverills plantation and the favorite to wed Mary Anne, the heir to the Beckles plantation. A wedding between the two would merge the two properties and fortunes. However, Charles has his eyes not on Mary Anne, but on Jenny who is a slave in her house and Mary Anne’s closest confidante.1854: Emily Dawson arrives in Barbados to claim the Peverills property that her grandfather has left to her after his recent death. She has no idea why he would leave this property to her or why he even had this property. When she arrives, she finds the property in complete ruins. She also is introduced to the Davenant family, who seem suspiciously interested in keeping her away from the Peverills property by generously “allowing” her to stay at their own home and blocking all of her attempts to gain information about her own property.This story stands out to me for several reasons, but I want to specifically mention the women. While it was very clear to me that the characters across the dual timeline were connected in some way, I couldn’t be 100% sure for a long time. I would make my hypothesis about what I thought had happened, and then I would find I needed to backtrack and change it as new pieces of information were revealed. Throughout the story, the women were so badass to me, even when they were calculated and less than polite. They lived in a place and time where they didn’t have the freedoms that we do today. Just one example of this is that they didn’t get to retain control of their own land and money. This played a huge role in who these women grew to be, how they made their decisions, and how they viewed the world and the other people in it. It irritates me so much if I say something and get ignored or spoken over by a man, but in this story, it was understood that life was that way and they had little or no voice. This part of women’s history never ceases to be eye-opening for me and was particularly stunning within the confines of this story with how everything played out.I also have to mention this setting. So lush and vivid and alive on these pages. Prior to reading this, I cannot remember reading a story set in Barbados before-certainly never during this time period, dealing with slavery and the rebellion and cholera and these exact subject matters, and I am well and truly fascinated. I loved putting the book down for a minute, going online, and looking up more of the history and as many maps and photos as I could find. I’m so excited and grateful when authors give me the opportunity to learn a little more while the entertain me.And this writing is absolutely gorgeous. I’m usually a fairly fast reader, but I read slowly on purpose with this one. I read in a ton of smaller chunks to really soak it in and enjoy every word on the page rather than long periods of time over one or two or three long sittings.Every single person that has seen this book in my house has mentioned how stunningly beautiful it is, and I agree. But reading the story has increased my admiration to beyond the cover. I have a few friends that live for the large, sweeping family sage-type stories, and The Summer Country is absolutely perfect for these readers. This one would really be wonderful read anytime, anywhere. But I think it would be particularly wonderful by a pool or by any water somewhere, or in the evenings in a nice, comfy reading chair. I personally read it in my reading chair and I love, love, loved it.I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you, William Morrow Books!Find this review and more like it on my blog, Into the Hall of Books!

Wow, this was an excellent historical novel! I was looking forward to reading this when I was notified that I was selected to receive a copy as part of a Goodreads giveaway. I knew nothing about Barbados and the author really brought the story line and the characters to life. Many times when I was reading this on my patio in the hot (dry) sun, I could feel like I was there in Barbados with the descriptions. I really enjoyed the dual approach to developing the intergenerational stories and seeing the parallels and having everything come together at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and look forward to more of this author’s novels in the future! Definitely recommend for book clubs!

This epic family saga is set in colonial Barbados. It begins when Emily Dawson from England inherits an abandoned sugar plantation from her grandfather. It follows a dual time line with Emily's story and approximately 40 years earlier. I did have a bit of trouble at the beginning keeping track of all the characters. By 75 pages in or so, I was totally immersed in the story. I loved the unique setting and learned a bit about slavery in colonial Barbados. This story is full of surprising family secrets. I would definitely recommend this for fans of historic fiction.Thanks to William Morrow for this free copy.

The Summer Country is a sweeping saga of love, family, betrayal, and secrets, set in Barbados in the 19th century. I knew next to nothing about this time and place in history, a time of turmoil and rebellion, of slaves and slaveowners, of wealthy landowners and the poor and sick. This background set the stage for an engrossing story and a unique cast of characters. The dual timelines melded together seamlessly, each storyline brimming with its own emotions and and breathtaking events.

I am a big fan of the author and have read most of her books. This novel is different from her others. I found that the first half of the book dragged, then it picked up. The dialogue crackles and the setting is atmospheric and historic. I love her writing and it is apparent how well researched is the tale. Alternating initially between 1854 and 1812, sugar cane plantation life in Barbados is portrayed. In 1812, Charles Davenant, newly returned from England, is introduced to his neighbor, Mary Anne Beckles, in hopes that their plantations can merge. However, he is more interested in her mulatto maid. In 1854, Emily Dawson has inherited Peverills, Charles' plantation after the death of her grandfather. She, her cousin, Adam, and his wife, Laura, are introduced first to former slave, London Turner, his wife, and nephew, Dr. Braithwaite, before being invited to stay with Mary Anne and her grandson, George. What happened to Peverills, which was devastated by fire? Why had her grandfather willed the property to her?

I love the writing style of Ms. Willig. The flow of this story, I can’t even explain the emotions I went through reading this. When those a-ha moments hit you and you’re totally shocked! So many turns I did not see coming. Kept me on my toes and it was so hard to put down! I want more of these characters.Thank you to Edelweiss for the ARC and giving me the chance to read for an honest review.