A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson {Goodreads}
Published by Pan Macmillian in 2015
Ellen is a
London girl brought up by her aunts who are suffragettes. However, she is not
interested in any of that. She studies in a school where they learn to cook,
clean, etc and then decides to move to boarding school in Austria since she’s
been fascinated by the country thanks to a cook she’s known all her life. She
finds a paradise in there, taking care of the children. But there she meets a
gardener, Malek, and something arises between the two. However, their idyllic
world is being threatened by Hitler’s advance.
There is
no much I can say about this book. It is a nice read, something you pick
up that is fast and doesn’t require too much from the reader. When it comes to
the characters, as I see it, they aren’t complex at all. Rather flat, I’ll say.
Ellen, our main character for example, is the classic angelic woman who
everybody likes. There is nothing much to her besides that. The same goes to
most (if not all) characters in the story.
The book is
most focused in the Austrian landscape and how it is a safe haven for Ellen and
the people living there. Music and the opera also play a huge part in the plot.
I don’t know much about it myself but I had no problems with any of it while
reading it – in fact, it was nice to know a bit more about it. Finally, and
although some of the book takes place during the Second World War, its issues
are not heavily touched throughout the narrative. We see aspect of it for sure
but as said, Ibbotson doesn’t go much into depth.
I know this
is labeled as young adult fiction but I find it more as a children’s book than
anything else. Anyways, as stated at the beginning, it’s an easy and quick read
and I might pick another title by her in the future to see if it is just the
same or if her other stories are a bit less simple.
