S U M M E R T I M E

|| Summertime || Vanessa Lafaye || Book Review 4/5⭐️ ||

Powerful, Charged Devastation.

Set in 1935, it tells the story of African American Missy, maid to the Kincaid family. When Henry, her first love returns to Heron Key Florida, as a veteran of WW1 she hopes to pick up where they left off, but Henry is different and struggles with the racial discriminations of home. Hilda Kincaid is attacked at the annual segregated Fourth of July BBQ and Henry is instantly accused of the crime, boiling up a racial storm in the town. There’s more than one storm brewing though, as one of the biggest hurricanes to make landfall is about to hit Heron Key.

Lafaye manages to create a perfect storm, bringing to light the horrendous racial prejudices of the time and the injustice of rumours and town mob mentality. Veterans were treated with fear and suspicion, in a time where PTSD wasn’t recognised, whilst trying to fit back in to a country that barely acknowledged your service, if you weren’t white. It is in parts a hard emotional read, but that makes it perfect, to capture a true snapshot of the time.

A moving debut novel.