Summer of Reckoning by Brunet, Marion

The story takes place in the suffocating atmosphere of a social housing estate in the south of France. Sixteen-year-old C line and her sister Jo, fifteen, dream of escaping to somewhere far from their daily routine, far from their surly, alcoholic father and uncaring mother, both struggling to make ends meet. That summer Celine falls pregnant, devastating news that reopens deep family wounds. Those of the mother Severine whose adolescence was destroyed by her early pregnancy and subsequent marriage with Manuel. Those of Manuel, grandson of Spanish immigrants, who takes refuge in alcoholism to escape the open disdain of his in-laws. Faced with Celine's refusal to name the father, Manuel needs a guilty party and Sa d, a childhood friend of the girls and conveniently Arab, seems to fit the role perfectly. In the suffocating heat of summer Manuel embarks on a drunken mission of revenge. A dark and upsetting account of an ailing society, filled with silent and murderous rage.

Author: Marion Brunet
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Published: 04/28/2020
Pages: 276
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 7.70h x 5.00w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781912242269

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/03/2020
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2020
Shelf Awareness 05/22/2020