First Summer

‘An intimate story of self-discovery… Beautiful’ Orhan Pamuk

A moving and dreamy debut novel about the summer love that changes two girls at the edge of adulthood

‘Such a tender story of love, discovery, connection, and loss. Ekin Oklap’s writing is startling in its apparent simplicity, beautifully timeless and fragile.’ Han Smith, Goldsmith Prize-shortlisted author of Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking

‘An engrossing, passionate, and nostalgic queer coming-of-age story. Set in the heat of a teenaged summer, and in a galaxy far, far away; this book captures how it feels to connect with someone during that adolescent period when childhood fantasies collide with the realities of adulthood. A true celestial treat.’ Emily Austin, author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead

In the heat and the green haze that seemed to surround us both like a physical presence, I felt intensely awake.

One afternoon at the start of summer, a teenager watches a new girl move in across the street. In Clara, the narrator recognises the same loneliness that she feels herself, but finds tenderness and laughter too. Over hot, languid days spent talking and reading side by side in the garden, the narrator is awakened to the possibility of a true connection with another human being, free of the self-consciousness she feels with others.

Meanwhile, in a distant fictional galaxy, Nadia the space explorer - the protagonist of a children's book series beloved by both girls - traverses the known universe with her companion, Rosa. Their imagined adventures make sense of new and powerful feelings.

First Summer captures the innocence and agony of adolescence and the exquisite promise of love on the cusp of adulthood: a moment where fantasy is still vivid in the mind. This story of the first summer of love echoes throughout the characters’ lives and will change them forever.