The Never Ending Summer by Emma Kennedy

It's the 1970s, Agnes and Bea have just finished secretarial college and are desperate for adventure. Meanwhile Florence, Agnes's mum, is starting to think there may be more to life than cooking, cleaning and being a perfect wife to a man who doesn't even notice you. Agnes and Bea move to London and become involved in all kinds of exploits, meanwhile Florence drives to Europe in her Morris Minor!

I absolutely loved this book - I read it in one day and feel bereft now that I've left Agnes and Bea! The characters are fantastic, the setting in the 1970s is both interesting and absolutely authentic (easy to forget how far we've come, especially when it sometimes feels that it's not far enough!) and the story is funny, touching and extremely poignant in places. So many great things I could say about this book.... VERY highly recommended!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for an ARC of this book.

I can't say it was exactly what I had in mind when I started reading it, but the book turned out to be really interesting and moving. Very well written, it portrays the friendship of two girls, trying to find freedom from the well established routine their lives are supposed to be. It is very far from what I have grown with, so it was fascinating to see the way people's minds were set back then.

An absolutely wonderful story! A real coming of age tale for Agnes and Bea, who want to escape their provincial life and go to London for a month to change themselves and grow up.
This is coupled with the disparity felt by Agnes’ mother, Florence, who is a typical housewife unappreciated by her husband.
I loved reading about all their adventures and how what they expected wasn’t all it was promised to be.
Brilliant writing and a great read.

Not normally my type of read., but I enjoyed this book it was lighthearted and easy to read. The first I have read of this author.

Right now- 2021, everyone needs an escape and this book is just perfect. The places, the people and the life choices are exquisite. Step into this book, go on a journey far away from the real world. Such a wonderful coming of age type book.

I enjoyed this book at the beginning but, halfway through it seemed to slow down and drag on and then picked up again towards the end. I enjoyed reading about the fashions and how most families didn’t own a washing machine or a freezer in the 1070’s which was true in our house. The book was good but not as funny as I’d hoped. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

First what bought me is the cover is so pretty.
But I hoped that I would enjoyed this book little bit more. It is beautifully written, but this one just didn't hit the mark.
Just didn't love this one.

I am afraid this story wasn't for me. Both of the main characters were very young and I couldn't relate to either of them or what they were doing. Probably more appealing for late teens.

Being a child of the fifties, I was around the same age as Bea and Agnes. Oh how I wish I had had the courage to live life to the full and experience new things, breaking away from the family ties. An interesting, fairly accurate representation of the early 70s from a small town girl’s perspective.

An evocative coming of age tale with vibrant characters and a lot of heart. This novel is a slow burner which will grow in your heart and become one of those books you can’t put down.

Highly recommended.

It's the early 70s and 20-year-old best friends Agnes and Bea, having just finished a secretarial course, are bored. Agnes's parents are a very traditional couple - her father goes out to work and when home, reads the paper and does the crossword, barely noticing his wife who keeps a perfect home - and her elder sister, Eleanor, is happily married and a successful artist. But things are about to change. Agnes and Bea decide they need some excitement so, telling their parents they are going to Europe with some friends, they instead head to London. Meanwhile, Agnes's mother, having met up with a friend who is divorcing her husband, realises that she too is bored and frustrated in her loveless, mundane marriage. When her husband refuses to even consider her idea of a holiday in Europe, she decides to take matters into her own hands and heads to the continent in her Morris Minor.
This is a delightful tale of coming of age, relationships and Britain. The portrait of a traditional marriage is stunningly accurate, and the relationship between Agnes and Bea finely detailed.
Emma Kennedy is a great observer and narrator of human relationships.
A thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Ledbury family are William and Florence, mum and dad and their daughters Eleanor and Agnes.

William and Florence are set in their ways, same meals each week, William leaves for work at the same time every day and Florence cleans in the same way every day.

Eleanor lives with her husband Charlie, happily a “modern couple” Charlie does all the cooking while Eleanor paints in her workshop in the garden.

Agnes and Bea are best friends who have just finished secretarial exams and fancy a bit of an adventure before they’re thrown into the dull humdrum of secretary life. After reading the female eunuch by Germaine Greer they decide to sneak away to London for the summer and become second wave feminists.

Unhappy with her life, Florence buys the same book her daughter has read and takes a leaf out of her book. She decides it’s time to make some changes and take a break from the daily routine.

Set in the 1970’s this book fills you will life in that time. With women serving their men and doing as their husbands wish. Never thinking of what they want, always wanting to do right for everyone else. I have to say, I think the ladies in this book were brave to take the risks and make the changes they did.

I found the book took me a while to get into but as the story progressed I got much more sucked in. I have to say William annoyed me at the beginning but I guess that’s the whole reason Florence did as she did. It was great to read bits about the second ever Glastonbury and reading the authors notes it was good to see she’d described it exactly as it was, even down to genital mud pies.

I great book and an easy read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Set in the summer of 1971 Agnes and Bea set out to lose their virginity and have some adventures. Left at home Agnes' mum Florence begins to wonder about her life too.

Bit of a slow burner to start with but I am so glad I persevered. A wonderful story and I loved the addition of the epilogue! Brilliant addition.

As a child of the ‘70’s, I appreciated all the references to this era throughout this book! It’s main characters, Bea and Agnes, are experiencing the same confusing feelings late teens have now with growing up, so is still as relevant. Their plans to secretly escape to London to try to lose their virginity made me squirm, especially when Agnes steals her elder sister’s contraception pills, then thinks just taking 1 pill will give them protection...! Their adventures are complimented by Agnes’ mum’s (Florence) own experiences as a down trodden ‘70’s housewife whose husband seems to live in the same house but avoids any actual communication with her, a situation only made worse now Agnes has left home. The journey for Bea, Agnes and Florence is not an easy one but by the end of the book they all seem to have reached where they want to be, or have a plan in place to get there.

I found the friendship between Bea and Agnes very well created but - spoiler alert! - their estrangement during the story felt wrong, though I could see that they had been too reliant on each other for their own good.

Many thanks to Netgalley for an advance ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this bittersweet look at life in the 70s – it brought back a lot of childhood memories. It was at times joyously silly and heartwarming, but then reminded us it wasn’t all sherbet DipDabs and terrible fashion. Emma Kennedy gently weaves in misogyny, stifled ambitions, the perils of new-found freedoms and contraceptive issues (although even that was tackled with the odd giggle!) The main characters are likeable misfits and I loved the portrayal of their friendship. The ‘supporting cast’ was also believable and help to shape a whole picture of the era.

I had already read The Things We Left Unsaid so was familiar with the characters in this book. It’s the story of Agnes and Bea, and Agnes’s mother Florence as they start to embrace the power of their sex in a time that was rapidly changing. It’s interesting to note the attitudes and actions of women at this point in time and Emma Kennedy explores this with wit and understanding. Rather than being the bored housewife or run of the mill secretary, both mother and daughter reach out for something different.
I would recommend this book as it’s a great read and held my interest throughout.

An interestingly different book. Set in the early 70s it certainly evokes the atmosphere of that time with all the changes particularly how women were seen and heard.; The characters I found were slightly too conveniently thrown together for the plot and lacked depth and cohesion. Reading from the perspective of one who grew up in this era and of a similar age to the main characters, it all seemed slightly off key how over naïve both Agnes and Bea were with William appearing from an even earlier age more like my Grandfather and Charlie more contemporary to now. Not sure for me but well written so worth a read and probably falls at a 3.5

The Never Ending Summer is a book set in the 70s, and focusses on the adventures of 3 women during the summer of 1971. It’s a book about the rise of feminism and explores both female relationships and relationships between women and men. I was particularly drawn to the character of Florence, a housewife, and her journey through the book, and to her son-in-law Charlie – every bit a modern man. The cultural references were well-researched and the Epilogue was a great addition. A rather slow burn to begin with but it picks up pace and I’m glad I persevered. Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Cornerstone for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. It sounded like the perfect antidote to an absolutely awful year. Sadly, it just didn't click with me. I didn't like the characters and found some of the attitudes quite patronising. It's very easy to be dismissive of views held then from the vantage point of 50 years on. Living in the same era things didn't really ring true with me. I'm sure different experiences create very different memories but I found very little in common with my own experience of that time. Just not my cup of tea which is a shame

Received an ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This was just not my cup of tea I’m afraid. I think the reason is that I actually grew up during the period depicted in the book and I didn’t think the depiction was authentic. So easy to be dismissive of the attitudes of people then, from the superior position of 2020, but for women like me who lived the experience I found some of the assumptions and observations not simply inaccurate but offensive.
Apart from that, I found it difficult to actually like any of the characters. Judging from the 4/5 star reviews, I am in a minority. The book is well written, just not for me.