Summer 1969 and repressed Marnie comes from a bohemian family and she decides to have a little rebellion from her boarding school life. Drinking for the first time she goes into town and sees Freddie, a trainee electrician and talented dancer. Marnie falls in love immediately but the repercussions of her rebellion hit hard, she is expelled and her ambitions may well be thwarted. However she introduces Freddie to her former Maths teacher, Miss Crewe, a talented dancer whose career was cut short by injury.
I hadn’t read any of Eva Rice’s books before but know that she has a loyal following so I picked this book up with interest. The novel is hard to categorise, the awful cover of this edition seems to place it very much in the ‘holiday chick-lit’ category which would do the book a disservice. The cover of the audio/hardback is much classier and implies that this is a book of substance. It’s not a story to change the world but it is written well, telling the story of three should trying to find themselves as the world changes around them. I would call this ‘literature-light’, it passes the time, there is a strong plot and it is emotional – it will delight the market but I feel it could have been more.
pluckedhighbrow 