Romance novel set in SPAIN
- Book: The Summer House by the Sea
- Location: Catalonia
- Author: Jenny Oliver
3.75*
The Summer House by the Sea is set in fictional Mariposa on the Spanish coast in Catalonia. The actual Summer House is but a taxi ride from Barcelona airport.
Ava has suffered a near death experience with the number 281 bus (which would make West London the setting for this particular incident), whilst checking her WhatsApp feed. She then has to face the funeral of her beloved Grandmother, Val, in Spain. Together with her brother Rory, who is cranky, determined and work obsessed, she has decisions to make, not only about the future of the house – the Summer House of the title – which their grandmother has left, but also about her own life. Ava wants to keep the house, Rory wants to sell, things can surely only come to a head?
Ava soon has the bit between her teeth and wants a spell of reflection to go through her life’s story contained in the house in Spain. So she promptly returns to Spain. Her own mother, it transpires mainly from letters, was not a very good mother to her children. The truth of her behaviour is quite a blow.
Meanwhile Rory, back in England, is trying to fire up his waning career. He is covering the cute scenario of a goose and a swan shacking up together in an upturned shopping trolley in the middle of a pond – #swanlovesgoose. But nothing much happens and he resorts to desperate tactics which become public knowledge. A Twitter storm ensues from which he has to escape. And escape he does to the Summer House taking his young son Max with him. Of course, Ava is already there!
The siblings are now in retreat from the internet, it’s time for a digital detox as they bask in the sun, and chew over their joint and individual lives. Brother and sister find, of course, that it’s not that easy to cut off from modern life on the web! Work calls, personal calls….Discoveries are made, secrets shared. Rory begins to realise that there has been no room for his wife in his marriage because of his rather controlling nature and large ego. He finds he is on his own personal road to Damascus when it comes to his relationship….
The old Café Estrella, at the heart of their childhood Summer holidays, has become a shadow of the bustling enterprise it once was, and Rory essentially takes it on as a project to support Val’s aged friend Flora. It would be wonderful to get it back on its feet. Maybe life in Spain would be sweeter for him and his family?
Ava catches the eye of a one time screen star, a rather louche older lothario living out his life on the Spanish coast, a bit of a roué with a raunchy reputation and a rather nice vineyard. For me, the frisson of attraction between the two just didn’t feel plausible, tempted by his advances as she seemingly was. She may have been drawn to him because her own father was absent throughout her childhood, but it’s a theme that is not really explored.
Lots of intergenerational relationship dynamics keep the plot moving along, together with comedic moments, some nice little character observations and quick fire dialogue to add a little sparkle. Possibly there is an overload of “themes’ that cannot all satisfactorily be explored in a single novel.
Setting is evocative, it is something that the author does well, and she credibly transports her readers to Spain. The variety of tasty foods – octopus, cioccolato con churros and more – is all very mouth-watering; the vistas are blue, sunny and warm. “I’d like to live in Spain for the summer, wouldn’t you? The beach, the sea, fresh figs and little coffees and tapas. It’d be amazing”. It certainly would!
A nice Summer read.
Please wait...
