Synopses & Reviews
The Perfect Summer chronicles a glorious English summer a century ago when the world was on the cusp of irrevocable change. Through the tight lens of four months, Juliet Nicolson's rich storytelling gifts rivet us with the sights, colors, and feelings of a bygone era. That summer of 1911 a new king was crowned and the aristocracy was at play, bounding from one house party to the next. But perfection was not for all. Cracks in the social fabric were showing. The country was brought to a standstill by industrial strikes. Temperatures rose steadily to more than 100 degrees; by August deaths from heatstroke were too many for newspapers to report. Drawing on material from intimate and rarely seen sources and narrated through the eyes of a series of exceptional individuals -- among them a debutante, a choirboy, a politician, a trade unionist, a butler, and the Queen -- The Perfect Summer is a vividly rendered glimpse of the twilight of the Edwardian era.
Review
"[T]his quick, enjoyable read shows the inevitability of the decline of the aristocracy by blending serious history, quirky details, and an all-encompassing portrait of English society." Library Journal
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"As entertaining as it is edifying." Booklist
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"A hugely interesting portrait of a society teetering on a precipice both nationally and internationally....As page turning as a novel." Joanna Trollope
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"[A] beautifully written and engrossing piece of social history." Wall Street Journal
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"[A] bestseller in England, and it's easy to see why. Bathed in the soft glow of nostalgia, it is a love letter to a lost past that luxuriates in the pleasures of what is presented as a simpler, more stable time." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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"There's great fun for the reader on every page of The Perfect Summer, a book brimming with delectable information and little-known facts." Providence Journal
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"Detail makes Juliet Nicolson's portrait of a single Edwardian year such a fascinating read....I felt transported into what Nicolson felicitously describes as 'one of the high sunilt meadows of English history.'" Antonia Fraser
About the Author
Juliet Nicolson is the granddaughter of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, and the daughter of Nigel Nicolson. A journalist and writer, she lives in London and Sissinghurst, Kent.