The Great Godden
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
We Were Liars meets Call Me By Your Name in this lyrical and quintessential coming-of-age tale about a summer when everything changes, from Meg Rosoff, bestselling author of the iconic novel How I Live Now.
This is the story of one family, one dreamy summer. . . . In a holiday house by the sea, our watchful narrator sees everything, including many things they shouldn't, as their brother and sisters, parents and older cousins fill hot days with wine and games and planning a wedding. Enter two brothers: irresistible, charming, languidly sexy Kit and surly, silent Hugo. Suddenly there's a serpent in this paradise -- and the consequences will be devastating.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Through an unnamed, ungendered teen's sharp eye and knowing narration, Printz Medalist Rosoff tells a dryly humorous story of summer and love gone awry. Each summer, a cued-white London family gathers at their beloved seasonal residence: a gabled, periwinkle blue beach house that's long been in the family. The narrator, whose room features an old widow's walk complete with telescope, watches everything, including three younger siblings—bat fanatic Alex, horse enthusiast Tamsin, and newly beautiful, self-obsessed 16-year-old Mattie—as well as Hope, a younger cousin of their father, and her partner, Malcolm, who live down the beach. This year, there are two surprises: Hope and Malcolm are engaged, and the Godden brothers, gorgeous Kit and sulky Hugo, sons of a once-famous actress, move in with Hope and Malcolm for the season. Kit, a manipulator par excellence, immediately makes a play for Mattie's affections, but also, says the narrator, "slipped between my ribs like a flick-knife." Between Mal and Hope's wedding planning, the Godden brothers' tensions, and Kit's erratic attentions, the summer darkens, leading this effective character study and depiction of childhood's end to a surprising climax. Ages 14–up.
