Very much enjoyed this novel: or perhaps more accurately collection of stories. Cantering around the various effects of the catastrophic volcanic eruption of Tambora - Little understood at the time but responsible for the “year without summer” of 1816. The effects of the terrible climate on harvests and therefore food prices were profound. As a (former) history student I knew the history but was very moved at how the various stories in this book bought it to life, weaving the entirely fictional with semi-fictional. To me the most affecting stories were actually the more fictionalised characters rather than the rather more well known ones (Mary Shelley and the birth of Frankenstein) though that’s not to say these weren’t beautifully imagined.

What a clever and fascinating novel this was! Take one real life event of a volcano back in XX and then look at three different people in places as far apart as Sussex, Geneva and and see how it affects them across time and place.

The volcano in question is Mount Tambora, which erupted in 1704. At that time , it was only reported in the Times newspaper and it was treated as a mere matter in a far off colony. No one in the book (neither the main characters nor anyone else) knows what has happened and then linked it to the weird weather currently afflicting many countries around the world.

The main characters who then tell their own thread of the overall story are very interesting! Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein for one. There’s also the painter John Constable. Two such very different people that I didn’t ever expect to see in a novel but it works! They all tell their own stories and for the most part, the stories remain separate. Six stories of one event. The reader however can sit back and see the bigger picture at the end. (The thread about Frankenstein and how the story came to be was particularly fascinating!)

And that big picture is impressive - the novel is set at a time where war is coming to an end after fifteen years of fighting. Napoleon has been defeated and soldiers are returning home. There are changes at home and abroad as people return to their homes, their land. Whilst they have gone, things have not always changed for the better.
This is a vast and ambitious novel which worked for the most part. It was a bird’s eye view of one part of history. The volcano despite the premise is not at the centre of the novel but acts as a catalyst to show the world in a period of change. A marker of history if you like.

The book deals with a the aftermath, the consequences of events and that brings in a whole host of issues. The poverty of the time, the struggle of women writers, the war and those left behind as well as those returning home. All wrapped up with a neat literary bow. The structure of the novel might seem haphazard at times yet it all comes together at the end. Those flashbacks to the volcanic eruption are a timely reminder of the fragility of life itself.

What’s very impressive is the scope and fact that this is relevant today. Remember the ash cloud of Iceland? Global warming today? Not so much science-fiction but science inspired fiction. I found this intriguing and had to slow down to fully take it in. Not a book to be read quickly but one to evoke wonderment as you work out the patterns of puzzles of human life within.

The Year Without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd
Having read and loved The Words in My Hand I was very excited to read the latest novel by this author. It begins in 1815 with the eruption of Mount Tambora. The eruption was so huge that it had a devastating effect upon the world’s climate, raising the temperature by 1 to 2 degrees and causing worldwide famine and changes to the weather such as snow falling in August. The terrible aftermath of this eruption has parallels with the destruction which we are currently experiencing due to climate change and therefore has a powerful message for all readers.
The story is told through six unconnected stories of people: Hope Peter, a soldier just returned from war to find his life ripped apart by the enclosure acts and finds people struggling to survive. Sarah a young girl paid only half the wage of a man when she is paid at all and a preacher in Vermont. Then there is the ship’s doctor aboard the vessel called to investigate the explosion who describes the terrible scenes which they encounter as they arrive on the island of Sumbawa. There are also the stories of John Constable who struggles to capture this new kind of light and Mary Shelley trying to write as she travels with Shelley and Byron. There were certainly characters I wanted to read more about, Henry the ship’s doctor being one, so that would be my only complaint.
It was a year of flood, fire, uprisings and protest and we begin to gain inkling about the terrible effects of climate disaster. A riveting book and very pertinent now. Many thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This is a book that takes a disparate set of people, and examines the impact of a cataclysm most of them haven't even heard of, upon their lives.  While The Times has featured a story of a volcanic eruption in a far-off colony, most (if not all) of the protagonists do not read the Times.  The general population has no idea why the weather has gone crazy.  Snow in summer, weeks at a time, freezing what crops have struggled through the dim and dreary spring.

In England, things were already difficult. Napoleon has been defeated, and fifteen years of war are at an end. The soldiers are back, and most have no job, or even home, to go to. While some generals were fighting the French, the stay-at-home gentry were busy enclosing the commons - making sure that they got all the wealth of the land, and fencing off the places were villagers used to graze their solitary cow, or run their chickens.

Guinevere Glasfurd finds characters at all levels of society with whom you can sympathise.

The unemployed soldier, latched onto by a lame country lad, finds the family home gone completely.

The farm girl, who has to work hard for her penny a day - half what the men get, and half what it used to be. And with crops dying, there isn't much work to be had, even without the new machine called a thresher, that can do the work of a dozen men.

John Constable, the famous painter, has yet to find fame or fortune - he's struggling from commission to commission, and vilified by the rich patrons of the Royal Academy, but he can see the changes going on around him.

Charles Whitlock is possibly the least sympathetic character, but he's well drawn, as is the fate of the Vermont farmers.

And Mary Shelley has her own problems trying to keep everyone happy in their idyllic Swiss summer home, where she has to use a light at five to read, when it should still be light at ten. The storms over Lake Geneva and the mud running down the hillsides... it's easy enough to feel you're with her.

Mud - cold - snow - poverty - starvation. It's grim. It feels grim and it was grim. And Guinevere Glasfurd writes it beautifully.

You can see all the reasons behind civic unrest as the anger grows. You can predict the disease and starvation, the tempers and the brawls, the dog-eat-dog mentality.

And every now and then we return to the expedition that discovered the volcanic eruption had happened.  The detail of the event, its impact, and the horrible, horrible consequences of a mountain exploding and raining tonnes of hot ash and pumice down on the occupants...  Glasfurd takes you into the hellhole through seas of rock, to a desolate, decimated populace, where her surgeon can do nothing to ease the atrocity or people's burns.

Vividly told, drawing across all strands and all sciences, this is magnificent and awful historical science-based fiction. And this is natural disaster causing climate change... a temporary blip, maybe, but no less significant in its impact on the world, and people's way of life.  A truly awesome book.

I was disappointed that there wasn’t more about Tambora and the eruption. Having said that the six stories were all set at the same period of time although of course it wasn’t until much later that the effects of the eruption were really understood. The real characters of Shelley and Constable were interesting and well researched , and the other stories were researched and did give historic events. An enjoyable read.

Really enjoyed this book. I felt it compelling and hard to put down. The writing was brilliant and I will defiantly be recommending this title to my bookclub. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this title in return for an honest review.

I liked this immediately. The cast of main characters, some real – including Mary Shelley and John Constable – and some imagined, are introduced briefly at the beginning. I was intrigued to know how their stories might or might not interact. Each has a different voice; some stories are told in the first person, others in the third.
I knew almost nothing about the ‘year without a summer’ of 1816, when weather and crops across the globe were affected by the huge volcanic eruption in Indonesia in April 1815. The situation was brutal, with food scarce and expensive and even the well-to-do affected. I enjoyed this book but the ending came too soon for me; I wanted to live with these characters a little longer.

It is 1815 and a supervolcano has erupted in Indonesia. Our story begins in the aftermath, leading to 'the year without summer' that was 1816, as global temperatures reduced.

It's a fascinating and true premise, particularly timely at the time of writing after eruptions in New Zealand and the Philippines.

The story is actually six stories of individuals across the world, connected only by the event, each of them facing a world that has been subtly - or not so subtly - affected by the volcanic eruption. One is Mary Shelley, another John Constable, both very interesting, but not somehow together making a whole.

It's worth knowing upfront (because I didn't), that the six stories are separate - they don't come together as one at any point. And that for me was where the novel didn't quite work. It was six short stories connected by a theme, which is fine if that's what you're expecting, but somehow disappointing if you're not expecting it at all.

This is a great book, describing the events of 1816, the year with no summer after the eruption of Mount Tambora, the largest recorded eruption ever. Two of the multiple narrators are famous - John Constable and Mary Shelley - and the story describes how the conditions affected their work. The others are mostly poor and the describes how the changes to the environment affected their efforts to work and how, en masse, these changes led to social unrest and change. The last narrator bears witness to the scenes at the volcano itself in the aftermath of the eruption.

I enjoyed the way that these stories were woven together and how they painted a rich picture of the times and how it affected people's views, poverty, social cohesion and religious views.

I’m afraid I’ve struggled to get going with this. The concept grabbed me in principle, but the characters aren’t coming alive for me, and in any novel that relies on a host of disparate viewpoints you need to be hooked into each and every storyline.

I’m sure it will work for others, but I’m afraid not for me.

This eagerly awaited novel resonates clearly with our present worries about climate change. When you realise that a massive volcanic eruption in 1815 can have such a knock-on effect to different parts of the world a year (and more) later.
Guinevere Glasfurd's research is immaculate and far reaching. She takes six characters, based on real life figures, from different walks of life and presents their stories relating to this momentous year.
The novel Frankenstein had its inception in a Europe where, rather than the blue skies and endless sunshine, rain was incessant, the sun did not shine, the poor accommodation was damp and the Shelley's lack of money did nothing to relieve the gloom of that 'Summer' and Mary was driven to darker thoughts as she contemplated writing a competitive ghost story to help fill their dismal evenings.
The other characters range far and wide - from the lovelorn minister Charles in drought ridden Vermont (and here Glasfurd's power of narrative equals Steinbeck's description of the tragedy of the 1930s Dust Bowl in America), to the abject poverty of the farm workers in Britain as the unfairness of the Enclosure Act combines with the unseasonal weather and sees families succumbing to starvation. It is here we meet the strongest character, Sarah. Sarah is the only character whose narrative is told in the first person. She comes to life under Glasfurd's hand. I found myself underlining so many passages in Sarah's tale, she is a literary figure who will stand the test of time. She is both vulnerable and feisty. She cleans middens for a penny a day and is supposed to be grateful for that. This year without Summer will see unbelievable shortage of food and the price of bread escalating. The illiterate Sarah rebels and joins the movement to fight for a living wage.
I have no hesitation of recommending this excellent novel for its research, the depth of the characterization and the emotions I felt ranging from anger to despair and in the case of Constable, a little ray of hope shone through the dark clouds of his paintings in 1816.
I look forward to Guinevere Glasfurd's next book on The Enlightenment in France and England. With her record, we have a treat in store.

I didn’t really enjoy this book to be honest. I found it a bit of a slog and quite boring. I didn’t care for any of the characters and it just didn’t hang together for me. Sorry.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

The Year Without A Summer is a unique exploration of one year in history, as seen through the eyes of six characters scattered across the world.

I enjoyed the interwoven narratives, although I wish there was more order to their arrangement. The writing is variable: in some characters' mouths, Glasfurd's words sing, but in others they sound a little stilted. Farmhand Sarah and ship surgeon Henry have the strongest sections – they best reflect the turmoil of the year and it felt like their stories had a solid structure to hold them together. The narratives of Shelley and Constable were comparatively weak, their voices too dense with allusion.

The Year Without A Summer draws some interesting comparisons between the turmoil of 1816 and the issues we face today, such as climate change and economic divisions. Despite the doom and gloom, it makes for an engaging (if variable) read.

A Year Without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd
Publisher: John Murry Press, Two Roads
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publish Date: 6 February 2020

Star Rating: 4.5 Stars

A truly wonderful book that moves the heartstrings and leads you to question the climate issue of the present. Glasfurd has chosen to write a historical novel about the year known as, the Year Without Summer: 1816. In the Sumbawa Islands, Indonesia, Mount Tambora stood at14,100 feet but the 1815 eruption reduce its hight to 9,350 feet while also killing over 71,000 people and throwing so much ash into the atmosphere it lead 1816 to be known as a year without summer. Crops failed, livestock died and famine became widespread in North America and Europe. The eruption of Mount Tambora was a super-colossal explosion, the worst in modern times with the eruption of Krakatoa coming in second.

It is during this year that Glasfurd has written 6 stories, the majority based on living persons, that show how the year without summer affected their lives. Starting with the most famous; Mary Shelly. Mary during 1816 is traveling with her future husband Percy Shelly and Claire Clairmont to meet with poet Lord Byron and his doctor, Polidori, in Switzerland. This meeting in Switzerland leads to one of the literature greatest moments. The “incessant rainfall” and unusual summer would lead to a competition over ghost stories that would see the birth of Frankenstein. Next is the famous artist John Constable who saw his life change drastically in 1816 due to bereavement, marriage and painting. Sarah Hobbs is much less known. In real life, she was the only woman condemned to hang for the Ely and Littleport riots of 1816 but her sentence was commuted. The riots concerned farmers, grain costs and unemployment. Although the issue was bubbling away on the back burner the 1816 crop failure acted as the spark that led to the riot. In the book, Sarah mimics real Sarah's life but it is very loose. Cleverly, Glasfurd doesn't just concern herself with 1816 she also writs a narrative based on the account of the Captain of the Benares. In this narrative the ship's Doctor, Henry, records his mission first, to discover the cause of a sound, believing it to be pirates, to then discover the immediate aftermath of the Mount Tambora's eruption. This account is quite graphic and heart-wrenching! Next a fictional character and narrative. An American Preacher settled in Vermont, Charles Whitlock, stands firm and convinces his flock of farmers to remain and weather the storm when they were preparing to leave, thereby leading to disastrous consequences. And Lastly, Hope Peter, a returning soldier from the Napoleonic Wars who finds the remains of his home.

All six narratives interested me deeply, I know from reading some other reviewers' reviews that they could have done without some and could have had more of others, but I felt that all the narratives played a part in what the author ultimately wanted to achieve. An example of what a natural disaster, that has an enormous effect on climate change, can do to all types of people at different stations and situations. It wasn't until recently that 1816 could be connected as a consequence of the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 and that the 1 to 2 degree chill effect had impacted the world through famine, politics and social unrest. A lot of parallels can be drawn from 1816 and today - but as the author questions, what does this knowledge give us?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Mount Tambora a volcano in Indonesia erupts in 1815 and the consequences are felt across the World throughout the year to come.

The Year without summer is the story of the effect that this event had on lives across the world as told by six separate voices including the well known Mary Shelley and John Constable. It explores the real consequences on people lives particularly those who had very little to start with and how they struggled to survive as they fought for their rights.

This book is a very well written historical novel and as all good historical novels should it immerses you in the world of times gone by but in this case it also really made me draw parallels with the modern world we live in and how we are dealing with environmental changes across the world. A really thoughtful read.

A fascinating, sad story of the aftereffects of the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815. The story is told through the lives of several people in different parts of the UK, Europe and the USA. Although the book jumps between the individual stories, it is not difficult to follow. How the eruption lowered the temperature by over 1 degree devastating food production and causing riots was very interesting. The historical notes at the end of the book are also worth reading. Although written as a novel, Glasfurd must have done a lot of historical research.

This story gives a peek into the lives of several characters who were affected, directly or indirectly, by a massive volcano eruption on Sumbawa Island, Indonesia, in the year 1650. The world's climate was affected and caused unusual weather conditions and unrest. The characters range from the tribulations of the famous (John Constable, Mary Shelley), to the plight of the lower orders as they faced crop failure in Vermont as winter came in June, and extreme poverty and rioting in Suffolk as the farm enclosures took their toll. The stories, told in alternating chapters, were well researched and compellingly told. There was a theme of death and despair in each story but the characters lives do not intersect in any way other than the effect of the volcano. I loved this - it was so unusual and clever.

A time of climate change and austerity is a challenging time to read a historical novel about similar circumstances. Too often, you can see the vision of a future, and with less chance of the situation improving. The historic event of the eruption of the volcano Tambora in Indonesia triggers a disruption of weather on the other side of the globe. Catastrophic weather and poor harvests bring suffering to a society which is very dependent on farming.
The structure of the book is to use multiple narrators from various social classes, although not from the richest individuals. Two of them are creators (John Constable and Mary Shelley) but the story of their art is still teetering on the edge of poverty. One narrator is on a navy ship near to the original eruption and sees the devastation it wrought on the islands near at hand. The approach of the ship through floating pumice and corpses is described as surreal and horrifying. We leave this narrator behind and move to Europe and America, and the abnormal weather – rain, flooding, snow and hail in summer. Each new disaster edges people nearer to desperation, which either leads to rebellion or the abandoning of hope.
It′s a very visceral book to read, with descriptions that take you into the lives of the characters. A moment where a woman steps into a stable to clear the dung, and the manure oozes up between her toes, and you realise she has no shoes. Constable reminded of his father′s hand delving into a sack of wheat while he sits at his sick bed.
I′ve made this sound a very sad book to read, which it is, as well as being enraging, but it′s also an engrossing and thought-provoking read.

I really enjoyed this novel, it was very well researched and the perspectives from six different characters from around the world from vastly different backgrounds worked very well. I did know about the "Starving years", after Waterloo but had no real concept of the scale of the hardship, or that it was so widespread beyond Europe extending to the US. It made me want to read more about Mary Shelly.

It has also given me pause for thought about what would happen if there was a similar eruption today. With western supermarkets using just in time delivery and usually holding 2-3 days stock, we would descend into just such civil disruption even faster than in 1816!

A fictional account of a fascinating moment in history.

The effects of the 1815 eruption of the Tambora in Indonesia were felt worldwide for three years after the event. Snow fell in summer, biblical floods washed Europe, while North America was hit with drought. Crop failure and famine led to social unrest, and the failure of monsoons gave rise to cholera and typhoid epidemics.

Glasfurd draws on her research to imagine half a dozen or so of the lives of those affected, including artist John Constable and author Mary Shelley. Each character forms a separate strand, which Glasfurd loosely weaves together.

With the exception of the tale of ship's doctor, Henry, the strands fail to engage. The inconsistent hopping from one character to another, then back again, certainly didn't help. As the strands do not intersect, the reader might have found it easier to feel for the characters had each strand been presented as a standalone short story. As it is the novel falls flat. A pity.

With thanks to NetGalley and Two Roads, an imprint of John Murray Press for the ARC.