That Burning Summer

by Lydia Syson

Overview

Full of passion, this wartime coming of age story is about a girl, a boy, and a crash-landing. Romney Marsh, July 1940: when invasion threatens, you have to grow up quickly. Sixteen-year-old Peggy has been putting on a brave face since the fall of France, but now the enemy is overhead, and the rules are changing all the time. Staying on the right side of the law proves harder than she expects when a plane crash-lands in the Marsh: it's Peggy who finds its pathetic, broken pilot; a young Polish man, Henryk, who stays hidden in a remote church, secretly cared for by Peggy. As something more blossoms between the two, Peggy's brother Ernest's curiosity peaks and other secrets come to light, forcing Peggy and Henryk to question all the loyalties and beliefs they thought they held dear. In one extraordinary summer the lives of two young people will change forever, in a tense and gripping historical drama from Lydia Syson, the author of the acclaimed A World Between Us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510711730
Publisher:	Sky Pony
Publication date:	01/31/2017
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	123,887
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Lydia Syson is the author of A World Between Us. She has been a BBC World Service radio listener in Botswana, a producer in London, and then became a non-medical doctor. She also wrote a biography of Britain's first fertility guru, Doctor of Love: James Graham and his Celestial Bed.

Editorial Reviews

“A beautiful, enchanting, and memorable book which captured war perfectly and hooked me within its pages.”
—Guardian

“Consistent excellence.”
—Independent, Children’s Books of the Year 2013

“Beautifully evoking the atmosphere of a small rural community under threat, it simmers with tension and intensity.”
—Book Trust

“It is Syson’s beautifully developed characters that make the history come vividly to life.”
—We Love This Book

“A beautiful, enchanting, and memorable book which captured war perfectly and hooked me within its pages.”
—Guardian

“Consistent excellence.”
—Independent, Children’s Books of the Year 2013

“Beautifully evoking the atmosphere of a small rural community under threat, it simmers with tension and intensity.”
—Book Trust

“It is Syson’s beautifully developed characters that make the history come vividly to life.”
—We Love This Book

From the Publisher

11/01/2016
Gr 7 Up—In a novel set during World War II, a Polish (Allied) pilot crash-lands in the marshlands of England. Henryk does not want to return to the fight and is contemplating suicide when he is discovered by Peggy, a young woman whose family has been displaced by the war and is currently living with relatives on a nearby farm. When Peggy finds Henryk, he is cold, wet, and hungry, and after helping him to an abandoned church, she provides him with her father's old clothes and food pinched from the farm's harvest. Then Peggy's younger brother, Ernest, learns what his sister is up to and wants to turn Henryk in, but Peggy convinces Ernest to help keep Henryk safe, at least for the time being. What Henryk and Ernest do not know is that Peggy is hiding an even bigger secret. In alternating viewpoints, the young people tell their stories as they wrestle with their consciences and decide what to do with themselves, and one another, as the war erupts around them. The author's afterword adds historical dimension and factual clarity to the events of the narrative. Teens who enjoyed Ruta Sepetys's Salt to the Sea or Monica Hesse's Girl in the Blue Coat will gravitate to this novel. VERDICT Recommended as an additional purchase for YA World War II collections.—Jillian Woychowski, West Haven High School, CT

School Library Journal

2016-10-19
It's July 1940 on the marshy Kentish coast of England, and the Battle of Britain is being fought overhead. Sixteen-year-old Peggy and her 11-year-old brother, Ernest, are helping out on their uncle's farm while their mother works in a nearby town. Their father's gone; it's not clear where, though Peggy is clearly ashamed by his absence. All of England expects a German invasion. Ernest sees a plane get swallowed by the marsh; Peggy, awake that night, discovers its pilot, who bailed out: not a German but a Polish refugee named Henryk flying for the RAF. Henryk can't bring himself to rejoin the fight, so Peggy hides him in an abandoned church nearby. Told in chapters that alternate perspectives among Peggy, Ernest, and Henryk, Syson does a beautiful job capturing the essence of the war in rural England. All three people are well-rounded, and descriptions and dialogue propel readers forward—unfortunately, to a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion that feels added on, a sudden spurt of adventure in what had been a novel of character. The mystery of Peggy and Ernest's dad is very nearly an afterthought. Rewarding on many levels, but it doesn't deliver all that it seems to promise. (Historical fiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews