The Summer Country, set in Barbados, is written in a dual timeline, 1854 (after emancipation) and the years leading up to the 1816 uprising of the slaves.

Emily Dawson travels to Barbados in 1854 with her cousin Adam and his wife after the death of their grandfather. Emily is surprised to inherit Peverills, a sugar plantation that has been a burnt out shell since the uprising. While investigating the history of Peverills and its previous owner Charles Davenant, Emily learns of the sad death of Mr. Davenent's ward, a little orphaned Portuguese girl named Carlotta.

Jenny is Mary Ann Beckles' maid, companion, and half sister. She is also a slave. We follow her story as she falls in love with Charles Davenant and she becomes a leader in the uprising of 1816.

This story is full of deception, betrayal, rebellion, love, passion, and death.

Thank you William Morrow and Book Club Girl for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a heartbreaking story told from dual timelines and multiple points of views. The historical aspects of the book were interesting and the alternating chapters worked well in revealing the connections between all the characters. However, the pacing of the story was slow which made the book feel a bit long. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC.

I first came to know Lauren Willig as part of the 3 Ws team and the world of Beatriz Williams. I'm so glad to have discovered another wonderful historical fiction writer. This novel takes place in dual timelines in the nineteenth century in Barbados. Barbados at this time was an English sugar colony and the novel grapples with the ramifications of that particularly when it comes to slavery. Emily Dawson arrives with her cousin to their grandfather's plantation, which they have newly inherited, to find it in total disrepair. As Emily begins to discover secrets of her family history, in the other timeline we see how those secrets came to be, at a time when the plantation was the jewel of the island. In some areas of the book, I found the pacing to be a little too slow but overall I loved this book and how it resolved. I did not totally see how the pieces fit together and was glad that there was still a little surprise waiting for me at the end. Can't wait to read more of Willig including her next novel Band of Sisters.

Set in Barbados, this story alternates between two different storylines which ultimately become intertwined. The storylines were so similar and the timelines were only about 50 years different which made it hard for me to follow and keep the characters straight. While the book did drag on occasion, the characters were beautifully developed and it was a fascinating glimpse into life in Barbados both before and after the emancipation of slavery. I am a huge fan of Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series, but this book was a bit hard to get through.

I was given a free e-ARC copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I am happy to provide that review, as this was a truly excellent novel.

First, for those of you that are unfamiliar with Willig, I feel compelled to mention that she earned both a graduate degree in history and a J.D. from Harvard. Both of these degrees are relevant to this novel. Thankfully, though, Willig does not write like an academic. (That's a good thing.)

The story that Willig tells here is a difficult one. It as a multi-generational story set in Barbados, linked by a Creole woman named Mary Anne. The novel covers two eras--the years immediately before Bussa's Rebellion (a slave rebellion, in the event that you, like me before reading the novel, are unfamiliar with the island's history) and 1854, several years after slavery was ended on the island. In her historical note, Willig highlights the difficulty of writing from the point of view of a Creole woman of the time. Quite frankly, few documents exist written by them and about them. Most often, they were written about by others, typically people that were not from the island or not of their social class. In addition to the difficulty of writing from Mary Anne's point of view, there aren't many traces of what female slaves thought of their lives. In this book, Willig tries to treat both the Creole slave-owner and the slave with compassion* and often succeeds.

As the cover copy indicates, the major arc of the novel is the story of Emily Dawson, a young Englishwoman that inherited a plantation from her beloved grandfather, Jonathon Fenty. On arriving in Barbados, she is quickly taken in by the owner of a neighboring plantation, Mary Ann Beckles Davenant. The novel then moves to tell the story of two brothers, Charles and Roger Davenant, and their courtship of Mary Ann Beckles. Mary Anne is a rich heiress, and her uncle has been (mis)managing her estate. She is desperate to be married and to control her own future. The other major character is Jenny, Mary Ann's cousin and her slave. The relationship among the four will twist love and hate as each character seeks connection, seeks autonomy, and seeks control over their own property*. Willig's background in law helps to clarify that the characters are not merely caught by social mores that could be ignored and disregarded but that they are also constrained by the law--specifically, the laws of inheritance, marriage, and slavery.

I stayed up far too late each night reading this book, because I never noticed the time. Each time I opened it, the world drifted away and I was caught up again in nineteenth-century Barbados.

If you like historical fiction, I suspect that you will love this novel. Willig tells a difficult story here, and does so with grace.

*related comment: As I said above, Willig does write about Mary Ann with some compassion, showing the ways that she is constrained by her culture and sex. That said, Willig is clearly not sympathetic with slavery and is clear that it damages both the slave and the owner. The changes in each character over the course of the novel highlight that damage

The Summer Country is an interesting historical fiction set in Barbados which is the location of Emily Dawson's inherited sugar plantation. Emily is left the unknown property when her Grandfather dies. You need to be able to deal with the attitudes of that time period in reference to some trigger topics like slavery and all the attitudes and injustices that entails but it shows the self discovery journey Emily travels as she learns about the history of the island and herself.

This could not have been a better read unless it came wrapped in fifty dollar bills! I so enjoyed this book which allowed me to submerge myself into this story and forget real life for a while.

Since I was already familiar with the author’s writing it was not too surprising that this historical fiction was so highly detailed and very obviously meticulously researched. It reads like a solid fiction book would read and yet you find the characters so believable you wonder how much of the story is based on real people or at least on actual occurrences.

The historical facts of slavery, the slave revolt, the yellow fever epidemic and the plantations themselves are an integral part of this story.

This is a story of generations and mainly takes place on the island of Barbados. The story switches back and forth between 1812 and 1854 but you will find the narrative easy enough to follow as some characters appear in both time periods. There are two story-lines which become one, at least they did for me, after a certain point in reading which tied the main protagonists to the story and to each other. Strong women, survivors each in their own way, populate this book and contribute throughout.

Thank you to William Morrow, HarperCollins Publishers for this ebook.

Truly enjoyed this generational tale of Barbados told in a dual timeline. Emily and her cousin Adam, along with his wife travel to Barbados after their grandfather passes away. They are there to inspect the sugar plantation that Emily has inherited. The second timeline is of Emily's grandfather's generation on the plantations. It is a well told story, with a lot of history, the uprising, cholera epidemic, etc. Thank you to #NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me to give my honest opinion on #TheSummerCountry.

A refreshing historical novel about a young heiress and a colonial sugar plantation full of secrets. The story set in Barbados provides an insightful look at everyday life in the West Indies both pre and post emancipation. In many ways, the book reminded me of The Wide Saragasso Sea by Jean Rhys and captured much of the same feeling.

I enjoyed the flow of the story in The Summer Country; the dual narrative, something that I typically feel is overdone and tired, worked remarkably well in the telling of this tale, with both timelines bouncing back and forth seamlessly. The plot held my attention and kept me wanting to turn the next page from beginning to the ending, which turned out to be extremely satisfying.

I could tell that the setting and time period were impeccably researched by the author, an effort that I wish more historical fiction authors would implement. There was a lot happening within the pages of this book and I sometimes felt a little lost or hurried along as a reader. I feel this may be due to the fact that the novel covered so much time and space and the author was forced to choose which elements were integral to the telling of the story and abandon anything that was not. I greatly appreciated the author’s historical notes at the end of the book, which helped to clarify any lingering questions I had.

I did not feel as though I particularly liked or identified with any of the characters. Each had both good and bad qualities, which helped them seem more realistic, but not the most endearing. I could tell that there was an attempt to add depth to their characters and make them likeable, but I don’t feel like it quite worked. This is likely due once again to the need to keep the sprawling story as concise as possible. These are minor complaints that detract little from an otherwise enjoyable reading experience.

This is a book that I will certainly recommend to any family or friends who also love historical fiction and are looking for something a bit off the beaten path.

With a glut of World War II historical fiction books being published, I always enjoy the opportunity to delve into historical fiction that is more unique, and while The Summer Country is about the enslavement of black people, and the complicated relationships between them and their white masters, the setting of Barbados in the early to mid 1800s does set it apart from stories based in the United States. On top of that, The Summer Country is incredibly well researched, fleshing out fictional characters and blending them in to real life events that happened in 1814-1815 and 1854 in Barbados. The story takes place at two different times with events slowly weaving together until the author forms the connection between Jenny, a slave in the earlier time, and Emily, a woman that's inherited a crumbling estate from her grandfather in Barbados. Both stories are fascinating, and offer a glimpse in both how much and how little had changed in Barbados from when Jenny is a young woman to when Emily is a similar age. While I have moments when I sympathize and despite different characters, the biggest downside to this book for me was the fact that I couldn't empathize with Jenny and Emily more. There is a great opportunity to empathize with Jenny being in love and not being able to be with the man she loves, and Emily questioning her life and identity but I just didn't quite feel like I was experiencing those things along with those women and that would have tipped this up to a five star book for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I felt as though I was on Barbados. I liked the characters and the dual time line story. I have read this author before and really like her writing. I have recommended this book to friends

This is a hauntingly beautiful story of Emily Dawson’s ancestral family. Emily’s side of the family grew up poor, while her cousin Adam’s family was more prosperous so it was quite a shock that when their grandfather died, Emily inherited Peverills, a sugar plantation in Barbados. Their grandfather never mentioned this plantation to anyone. Emily travels to Barbados to see this plantation, it’s left in ruins. The story is quite slow, but it’s interesting to learn of the time period and the culture of Barbados. Thank you to William Morrow, the author, and NetGalley for a gifted copy. This is my honest review.

I received a free copy of the ebook via NetGalley, from Book Club Girl’s “Free Friday” reads. I’ve enjoyed all of the author’s other books, but somehow had missed this one. It drew me in straightaway!

I love the dual, connected timelines in the story, and the characters fascinated me. Victorian-era Barbados was outside of the typical locale for other historical fiction I’ve read, so I was interested to learn more about it. The attention to historical detail was what I’ve come to expect from Lauren Willig - well-researched, accurate, and perfectly balanced and blended into the book. I didn’t feel like I was sitting through a history lesson, but learned a lot just the same.

The cast of characters were interesting, relatable, and realistic. The plot was intriguing and interesting - I could hardly put the book down! I also loved that the epilogue wasn’t quite what I expected, but very satisfying nonetheless.

Highly recommended.

Lauren Willard is an accomplished writer, but I feel that she fell short in this book. My major complaint is that the characters were not well enough defined that I could distinguish one from another. I had to keep referring back and reminding myself who was who and who was related to whom and so forth. I almost felt like I needed a genealogical chart. There was an interesting mystery or twist to the story once the reader reached the 60 percent mark. I will still read Lauren’s works in the future.

I loved this book! The first half of the book it was a little tricky to keep all of the characters straight, but once it started all connecting I could barely put it down. This was my first book by this author but it definitely won't be my last. I received a free copy of the book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

“The Summer Country” is an historical fiction novel set in Barbados in two alternating time periods: 1854 and 1812-1816. The novel begins in 1854 when Emily, her cousin Adam, and Adam’s wife Laura travel from Bristol, England to the Barbados where Emily has gone to investigate an unexpected inheritance of a plantation called Peverills that her grandfather, Jonathon Fenty bequeathed to her. There she meets Dr. Nathaniel Braithwaite, a former slave who was trained as a doctor in London and Edinburgh. He takes her to Peverills, where she discovers that the house is a blackened ruin, the result of a slave uprising in 1816. The condition of the estate adds further mystery to her grandfather’s unusual bequest, and Emily spends the rest of the novel trying to find out why he gave it to her.

Emily, Adam and Laura are invited to stay at Beckles, a neighboring plantation, by George Davenant and his grandmother Mary Anne. The invitation to stay at this plantation, ostensibly a result of “Creole Hospitality”, nevertheless raises Emily’s suspicions that Mrs. Davenant has some hidden agenda.

The 1812-1816 time period begins with the arrival at Peverills of eldest son Charles Davenant from his studies in England after the unexpected death of his father. Charles’ younger brother Robert has been running Peverills in the interim and resents the emergence of his elder brother. They are frequently entertained at the neighboring estate of Beckles by Colonel Lyon and his niece Mary Anne Beckles, the latter of whom actually owns the estate. Mary Anne sets her sights on Charles, hoping that by marrying him, she can free herself of her uncle’s management of the estate and interference in her life. Mary Anne’s maid Jenny, a slave given to her by her Uncle, is Mary Anne’s constant companion and confidante. The conflicts and tensions among the various characters slowly unfold, revealing the mystery of Emily’s inheritance in 1854.

The prose was well written, immersing the reader in the respective time periods. Also, the characters were fully defined, particularly Jenny whose struggles living as a slave were enlightening. That being said, I found that I did not enjoy this book as much as I did Laura Willig’s other historical fiction novels. Perhaps it was the result of my lack of interest in the location and time periods, or the fact that the novel, at over 500 pages, felt too long. Other readers without these biases might enjoy the novel more than I did for its many positive attributes described above.

This is a great read especially if you like a family saga. This story is set in Barbados and spans two timelines over a 40 year period in the 1800s.
In 1854 Emily Dawson inherits a sugar plantation ‘Peverills’ in Barbados from her grandfather. She travels from London with her cousin and his wife to learn more about this inheritance.
Going back to 1812 we learn about the lives of those living at Peverills and an adjoining plantation. The two timelines are
woven into an engaging story of family secrets, racial tensions and forbidden love.
I love reading historical fiction as I always learn something about the time and place that the story is set in and the author certainly had done her research.