A 'Now' and 'Then' tale; 'Then' being a summer holiday when the lead character is 17. Like many of us she has a rather rose-tinted memory of being 17 and, in particular, how true and right her first love was. 'Now' is as a married woman who decides to get back in touch with the Summer Love but events catch up with her.

I enjoyed the plot and the structure. Kate could be quite frustrating, particularly when she is wrecking her 'Now' life for the 'Then Love' who is clearly a nasty piece of work, but then if she had spun a certain story in her mind it would take quite a while for her to see another interpretation.

This is a good read, I zipped through the pages and there is a satisfying conclusion.

Clearly influenced by the #MeToo movement and the increasing understanding of problematic, coercive and abusive relationships The Girls of Summer is a well-written exploration of one woman's experiences during a year in the sun. At times the naivety of the lead character infuriated me but I think it was meant to. As an adult looking out over her experiences you want to step into her world and and show her a safer path. Occasionally the narrative is less focused than it could be and the end feels a little rushed but it's a promising debut. (Copy received from Netgalley in return for an honest review).

This took me a while to settle into, but once I did I didn't want to put it down. I love novels that focus on two timelines, I've realised recently. Often I find myself enjoying one timeline more than the other thought, and it was the same here - I enjoyed timeline of the main character as an 18 year old more than I did that of her in her 30s. (This may be related to my own age though) I also found the two TLs complimented eachother well, with one detailing Rachels time on the island, and the other detailing her coming to terms with the events that happened there, whilst trying to navigate a failing marriage.

With this considered, I did find Rachel frustrating at times in the present. Reading it I often felt like shaking her and saying HE'S STILL MANIPULATING YOU!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? LISTEN TO YOUR FRIENDS!! But I guess that this is an accurate portrayal of coming to terms with the kind of trauma the book deals with, so it doesn't harm the book in anyway

*Potential spoilers*
"The girls of Summer" is a story very much for our time, very much born from the #MeToo campaign. The entire book does need a trigger warning from start to finish however, so if you find depictions of sexual assault trigger you particularly, avoid this novel. I appreciated that none of these scenes are graphic however, making it clear that it happened and the trauma it caused without being overly descriptive. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is seeing how the main character didn't register this as abuse unitl she was older, and how the lines of consent are blurred so often.

So yeah - a quick, enjoyable (if this is the right word?) read that I definitely recommend. Maybe not the best choice to take on holiday though, as it might make you cry on the beach.

A stunning debut - beautifully written with a tense, emotive plot that will be relatable to so many women. At times I felt myself shouting at the past and present Rachel despite knowing the manipulation and trauma she has endured. A difficult read but an important one. Congratulations Katie!

Thank you Katie Bishop and Penguin Random House for kindly gifting me this eARC as a pre release!

This book really did have it's moments where it was so detailed and I really couldn't put it down but other times, I just couldn't follow on with it and I think that could be because I read it in many sittings over quite a long amount of time.

I really liked the fact that it kept flipping from past and present showing different age group perspectives, meaning that a teenager like myself, could easily read this book as well as somebody older.

I was truly so captivated by this book! Emotional, heart wrenching and shocking. I know that this is going to be a huge hit when it releases!

This was such a gripping and moving read! Told in dual timelines, we follow Rachel at 17/18 on her first holiday during college where she ends up staying on to work in a bar and finds herself in a relationship (as she sees it) with an older man, and in her 30s where she is still struggling with the traumas from that time and begins to realise it may not all have been how she remembered.

It’s hard to put into words how this book made me feel, because it was dark, bleak and at times, disgusting, but that was entirely the point. I had to know how the story was going to unfurl so felt compelled to keep reading!

I would definitely read more by this author and I know that I’ll be feeling the weight of this story for a long time.

This book covered some very heavy topics so content warnings for sexual abuse, rape, manipulation, drug abuse, abortion, death, suicide, trafficking.

This is a dark, absorbing novel which is excellently written.
It is set in two time periods: then and now; both tales interweaving and exploring the dark side of the stories we tell ourselves when the reality we live in doesn’t quite fit the narrative.

The author was inspired by the #metoo movement and it’s a thought provoking link. I think she is right on when she suggests that we can craft history in the way we wish to, in order to suit ourselves and we don’t quite see what we need to sometimes.

I enjoyed this thought provoking and yet entertaining novel.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Thank you for my copy of this book to read and review.

Wow. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

Told in alternating chapters of ‘then’ and ‘now’. Quite a dark story, it made me feel uncomfortable at times but I love how the story built up and unfurled.

I didn’t want to put this book down…but now wish I hadn’t finished it so quick! I can’t recommend this enough.

Wow wow wow! I am still thinking about it, it's one of those stories that stays with you. This is a book I know will stay with me for a long time, the story is exceptionally and sensitively written. It is important and poignant. Honestly you need to read this book ASAP.

This book split into 2 parts the then and now charts the journey of the major character and her earlier life as a coming of age girl who is controlled and sexually by an older man and charts her effects into the now and the darker side of controlling abusive people , the author stated that it was partly influenced by the #metoo and other events. found the book dark and moving

At first, this book appears to be intoxicating freefall into Rachel's memories of backpacking and Greek island-hopping, aged 17, with lucid descriptions of the island and the obsessive nature of first love. But it's soon clear that the 'Then' events are far more sinister and still haunt 'Now' Rachel, whose life has been blighted by what happened during that summer 16 years ago.
I'm sure the lawyers picked over this book with a fine-toothed comb, because there's plenty that resonates with the #MeToo cases of a few years ago.
It's well written, pacy and exposes unforgivable wrongs. The way in which Rachel resists but then gradually comes to realise that all was not what it seemed through her 17-year-old eyes was particularly well handled. Recommended.

I didn’t know what to expect when I first started to read this book, it starts off on a island somewhere in Greece (you’re never told which one though). Where is Rachel devastated because somebody has not met her as expected on the beach, It jumps 16 years to where Rachel and her husband are on the same Greek island when she bumps into someone who was there during the summer that she was. The book jumps backwards and forwards between both timelines but it’s really easy to follow.

It’s a really gripping read however, it covers some really sensitive themes such as rape, human trafficking, drugs, alcohol, suicide and pregnancy terminations. It was a lot to take in at times and I found it difficult to settle after finishing the book as it had affected me so much - the sign of a really good book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Transworld for the opportunity to read and review this truly superb ARC of The Girls of Summer.

This is a book that delicately handles a heavy storyline. It was gripping and intriguing and it kept me guessing until the very end. It’s not an easy book to read- but in a very good way.

The Girls of Summer is a clever and absorbing novel - a story of a life in retrospect where all that glitters is not gold.

The beautifully atmospheric setting offsets the characters perfectly and this is all about perception.

Moving through past and present we follow Rachel as she looks back on the all defining Summer of her youth- a summer that has left a shadow for reasons that she doesn't understand.

This is a captivating tale, one of coming to terms with reality it is brilliant, authentic and heart wrenching.

This book’s description is fairly vague, so I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into. This is Rachel’s story, alternating between her present-day life visiting a Greek island with her staid husband Tom, and her teenage days on that island with other young girls and her relationship with an older man, Alistair. Without revealing too much, her past time on the island was not an idyllic fun time and the dark undercurrents of her experience then have shaped her present. An interesting, well-written novel.

I found this a gripping but difficult read – which I think is intended. The book is told from the perspective of Rachel, whom we first meet waiting on the beach of a remote Greek island waiting for a man, her lover, who never arrives. “They came for him” we are told. “They didn’t find him. He’d already left. He got away.” There is also a reference a body “washed up, broken on the beach.”

We are not meant to be able to make sense of this episode, which I found myself returning to several times as I read on. Rather, the narrative continues in “then” and “now” reflections, as we learn more about the island which Rachel and her husband Tom are now visiting as tourists, and about Rachel’s first visit as a teenager with her backpacker friends many years earlier. What happened then changed everything for her, and she cannot shake it off, even today with her dependable husband and his plans for a cosy domestic future.

The flashback device can be annoying but works for the simple reason that this is key to the subject: the long term impact of what happens to a young person, specifically in this case a young woman. That, and the fact the author references the #MeToo movement in the afterword is all I will say about the plot, but as you can guess this is not a light summer read.

Author Katie Bishop, who lives in Birmingham in the UK, started this book during the COVID19 lockdown, and remarks that the book expresses her interest in “how our personal narratives can be reshaped and understood in the light of cultural and societal changes.”

She is an able writer and from time to time comes up with some arresting phrases, like “memories, always in the background of moments that felt soldered on to my soul.” The drama of the book is in the gradual reveal of what really happened, told from the perspective of a young and naïve woman, and in the tension evoked by watching someone make bad choices and continue in denial of facts that are obvious to the reader, all presented in a matter of fact and non-judgmental way.

It is a good book if you are prepared for a challenging read though I found it difficult to warm to Rachel; I suspect this is deliberate and part of the theme that damaged people also damage others – though there is a moment where she comes into her own and saves a friend’s life which I particularly enjoyed; this perhaps is the Rachel that could have been.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read/review this book
Full review to follow both here and on the blog.
I love summer themed books and I love the premise. I’m so excited to dive in and read this one and all of the important issues it address at such a poignant time in a young Womens life


That place has been my whole life. Everything I thought I knew about myself was constructed in those few months I spent within touching distance of the sea. Everything I am is because Alistair loved me.'

Rachel has been in love with Alistair since she was seventeen. Even though she hasn't seen him for sixteen years and she's now married to someone else. Even though she was a teenager when they met. Even though he is twenty years older than her. She's found it impossible to forget their summer together on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island. Until now.

When Rachel unexpectedly reconnects with a girl that she knew back then, she is forced to re-examine her memories of that golden summer and confront the truth about her relationship with Alistair and about her time working for an enigmatic and wealthy man on the island. And when Alistair returns, the pull of the past could prove impossible to resist...

The Girls of Summer is a compulsive and searching exploration of the complicated nature of memory and trauma, power and consent, victimhood and shame.