Summer (ePub)

Peter and Maggie are happily married. For a fortyish couple with two kids, they get on remarkably well. While all their friends are in relationships that make them wonder why they bother, Maggie and Peter have always prided themselves in being different from other couples. They are soul mates and best friends who are more in love now than when they first met.

With school holidays fast approaching, Maggie makes the usual preparations for their annual stay at Bellbird Cottage. However, when one of Peter's students from the university where he teaches decides to make trouble for him, his relationship with Maggie is put to the ultimate test.

Jenny and Tom are best friends. They share everything, including a birthday. They will both tell you that school holidays are their favourite times of the year. For Jenny and Tom, the summer starts out like every other summer. With no school for weeks, a birthday party to plan and Christmas to look forward to, life couldn't be better. Not long into the holidays; however, things start to go wrong. An encounter with the neighbourhood bullies gets out of control and the young friends find themselves in over their heads. As Jenny and Tom experience a range of emotions and events unfamiliar to them, it becomes apparent that the summer will not turn out to be the usual carefree one they expected.

Living in Australia, you can't help but feel some affinity towards summer. It is a time for love, sorrow, joy and pain – but mostly, it is a time for change. Summer is the season from which all memories flow. For Maggie and Peter, the summer of 1968 is one that changed their lives forever. For Jenny and Tom, the summer of 1979 is the one that will be remembered most.

Summer tells the story of two couples - one married, the other childhood friends - separated by years, but inexorably linked.