Let's travel to a summery Norway for Natalie Normann's charming romance, Summer Island.
He never meant to stay.
He certainly never meant to fall in love…
Summer Island off the coast of Norway was the place London
chef Jack Greene should have been from. He’s an outsider in the community that
should have been his family, and now he’s setting foot on the strange land he
has inherited for the first time.
Ninni Toft, his nearest neighbour, has come to the island to
mend her broken heart. With her wild spirit and irrepressible enthusiasm, she
shows city-boy Jack the simple pleasures of island life – and what it means to belong.
To a place. To a people. To one person in particular…
Home is where the heart is, but is Jack’s heart with the
career he left behind in London, or on the wind-swept shores of Summer Island,
with Ninni?
My Thoughts
It was a refreshing change to read a novel which was set in Norway in full Summer. Extended daylight hours and unexpected sunshine light up the story, making it an ideal summer read to escape into. Full of warmth and heart-warming tones, you can sense the community values which bind the islanders together. It is a relaxing read which you feel yourself settle into.
Jack strikes you as an outsider from the start. Certain members of his adopted family have never accepted him. As he arrives on the island, he seems to have been cast adrift from his life in London and he is a stranger despite his birth right. Ninni is totally at home on the island and has returned to it looking to heal her broken heart. It is fascinating to watch how the islanders react to them both. Friendship and family values run through the whole story. You glimpse some old traditions and customs and there is a real feeling of being rooted in a community which looks out for its members who don't even bother to lock their doors.
In short: a warm, relaxing read.
About the Author
Natalie Normann grew up in a shipping town on the west-coast
of Norway and always wanted to be a writer. Actually, she wanted to smoke
cigars and drink whiskey like Hemingway but settled for chocolate and the
occasional glass of Baileys.
Her writing journey started with short stories in women’s
magazines until her first book was published in 1995.
Summer Island is her first romance written in English.
Thanks to Natalie Normann, One More Chapter and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
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Thank you for your review of Summer Island. This is just the kind of review you dream of before a books gets out there :D
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