The Summer Before is a well written starkly moving drama by Dianne C. Braley. Released 15th Oct 2024, it's 224 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
The author writes well, and eloquently. The plotting, pacing, and characterizations are well rendered and effective. That being said, the content is often quite dark and difficult to read. There are strong themes of SA (involving a child), suicide ideation, abuse, coercion, failure of care, and more. Really nothing is glossed over, but neither does the author include prurient unnecessary gratuitous detail. Nevertheless, it's a very difficult read, and readers should be in a good mental state before reading.
Three and a half stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment