That Summer

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'The Battle of Britain may be rightly regarded as the most famous air conflict in history but Greig has made it something much more important for a generation now almost unimaginably removed: he has made it real... That Summer is an extraordinary achievement that deserves to have Greig, after several impressive novels, promoted to the ranks of the highest-regarded writers.' Anthea Lawson, The Times

UK Kirkus review

June to October 1940 was the summer of the Battle of Britain. Len, a young fighter pilot, Stella, a radar operator, Maddie, a good time girl, and Tad, a Polish fightor pilot, become a close-knit group of friends when they meet at a dance near their Kent air station. Len and Stella have a passionate affair, while Maddie and Tad seem to know that there's no permanence, that every moment must be seized and enjoyed. Greig's evocation of those desperate, emotional months is convincing and moving. He captivates the immediacy of life that seemed so fragile as the pilots and their crews left half-empty glasses of beer, half-finished games of Ludo, half-written letters, to obey the order 'scramble' and take to the skies to fight, watched by Stella and her team in a wooden receiver hut nearby. Len is a grammar school boy from a working-class family. Stella's parents are entrenched middle-class and Maddie has long since lost touch with any relations she may have had. Tad's family in Poland have been killed by the advancing German army: underneath a defiantly jaunty manner lies a steely determination to avenge them. War sweeps away convention, and sex, romance, even love, spring up borne of lonliness and the longing to create a tangible future and an emotion stronger than hate or fear. The author, a poet and prizewinning novelist, has soaked himself in the literature of the period. He allows Stella and Len to tell their stories in alternating chapters; their voices ring true. Air battles are alarming and enthralling, deaths devastating and time off, snatched for friendship, families and romance heartwarming and heartbreaking. A good read, and a stark reminder of recent history. (Kirkus UK)

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