Summertime cover art

Summertime

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Summertime

By: Vanessa Lafaye
Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Florida, 1935, and the residents of Heron Key are preparing for the Fourth of July barbecue, little realising how much their world is about to change. Domestic helps Missy and Selma are dismembering the alligator that tried to snatch the baby Missy was watching, before they can get ready for the party.

Henry, a returned soldier from WW1, is hoping that his comrades in his construction team will not disgrace themselves in front of an already fiercely judgemental community. Hilda Kincaid, is squeezing into a frock, wondering how she will face another night of public humiliation as her husband toys with Doreen from the golf club. And Sheriff Dwayne Campbell - laughing stock since his wife gave birth to their mixed-race son - is squaring up to deal with any troublemakers and prove he can control the town, even if he can't control his wife...

Tensions simmer at the party and in the early hours of the morning, a woman is found half-beaten to death. As whites turn on blacks, the finger of suspicion points at one man. And while wild accusations are made, far over the Atlantic a tropical storm changes direction and turns towards Florida, increasing in speed by the second. As the hurricane beacons are lit along the Keys, the town folk prepare themselves as they always do, unaware that the approaching storm is beyond anything they have ever experienced. In one night, Heron Key will change forever.

©2015 Vanessa Lafaye (P)2015 Orion Publishing Group
Fiction Historical Fiction Marriage Natural Disaster Florida
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers cover art
Futile Efforts cover art
Occasional Demons cover art
The Dead Man Volume 1 cover art
Dragonfly cover art
The Gore cover art
They Rot cover art
The Long List Anthology cover art
Armadillos cover art
Children of Chaos cover art
Between Here and the Horizon cover art
Last to Die cover art
The Lieutenant's Nurse cover art
Haven cover art
Bedbugs cover art
Alex cover art

What listeners say about Summertime

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    83
  • 4 Stars
    62
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    9
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    86
  • 4 Stars
    47
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    74
  • 4 Stars
    53
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    9

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Summertime

Very evocative and absorbing story, well told. Would definitely recommend to others. Quite grisly in parts.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A great find

I bought this as part of a sale and what a great find. The story is great and the performance is done so well. Based on true events, it is an excellent capture of a day in the life of a community in 1930's deep south USA.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

This was an unexpected pleasure. Although based on a true story, it was one I wasn't aware of & I found it very interesting. I also happened to be listening to this when Harvey, Irma, Jose & Katia were wreaking havoc, and living in Scotland, I was really interested in the descriptions of what it would be like. The loss of all your clothes during a storm and the disorientation & difficulty in finding safety due to loss of landmarks & buildings were unknown to me, so it was an education.
The characters were well drawn & I particularly liked the development of the police chief's nephew who was a favourite by the end of the book. The different treatment of ethnic groups & the refusal to give shelter at the height of the storm was shocking & unforgivable. The refusal to behave in the same disgraceful manner when situations were reversed was admirable. I doubt that i would have been so noble!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story well told

A beautiful story of love and hate set in the Florida Keys in the Thirties and centring on the love between Henry and Missy, the shameful treatment of a group of coloured war veterans, and the impact of a monster hurricane. Brilliantly written by Vanessa Lafaye and brilliantly read by Adjoa Andoh.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful!

The narrator is the best I have come across on audible totally bringing to life the characters if this story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping story

Excellent story brought to life by a wonderful story teller. Recommended read. Based on true events it's an exceptional and heart rending tale of people in the south living together.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A moving fictional account

I found this book a little hard to get into, then I couldn't stop listening. As the disaster unfolds the listener is gripped by the events and totally involved in the characters and their fight for survival. The narration was excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Summertime

Good story like a happy ending. Quite informative too. Hadn't perceived how deadly a hurricane can be

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a brilliant book.

Would you listen to Summertime again? Why?

I listened to it twice actually. It's a great story wonderfully narrated. I could picture the sleepy town in Florida: the lives and concerns of those living there at the mercy of an approaching hurricane.

What other book might you compare Summertime to, and why?

I liked it because it was an unusual story unlike anything that I have read before. I knew nothing about the hurricane or the plight of the returning WW 1 veterans.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The scene with the 'gator.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Out of a clear blue sky

Any additional comments?

This book has everything: a good plot and wonderful well drawn characters. It is deeply atmospheric and it builds to an incredible climax.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Slow to get going

I read other reviews before buying this one, and I agree with them. the 1st half of the book is very slow and very little takes places through the introduction of the characters. However once the storm sets in that is when my attention was grabbed and I just had to keep listening to find out the fate of the people affected by the storm

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!