Summer dreaming

An aging person reminisces about the events of many years earlier, when he spent his summer holidays with his family and friends at the sea-side. The reminiscence is bittersweet: on the one hand it brings back the carefree and straightforward feelings of adolescence, but on the other it rekindles an ancient pain, never completely extinguished, for the premature death of a teenage friend. The novel alternates unfiltered youthful descriptions with more mature considerations, processed through the twin lenses of time and wisdom. The reminiscence, however, ends with a smile and with a message of hope.