When Ellen Carr, daughter of a militant suffragette and raised to be an intellectual, takes a job in Austria as housemother at the Hallendorf School of Music, Drama and the Dance she simply wants to cook beautiful food. What she finds when she reaches Schloss Hallendorf is an eccentrically magical world occupied by wild children, naked Harmony teachers, experimental dancers and a tortoise on wheels. But idyllic as this life appears, outside the castle Hitler's Reich is already casting its menacing shadow over Europe and the ...
Read More
When Ellen Carr, daughter of a militant suffragette and raised to be an intellectual, takes a job in Austria as housemother at the Hallendorf School of Music, Drama and the Dance she simply wants to cook beautiful food. What she finds when she reaches Schloss Hallendorf is an eccentrically magical world occupied by wild children, naked Harmony teachers, experimental dancers and a tortoise on wheels. But idyllic as this life appears, outside the castle Hitler's Reich is already casting its menacing shadow over Europe and the persecutions have begun. Through her growing friendship with the mysterious groundsman Marek, Ellen ecounters the dreadful reality of flight from Nazi Germany - and, on the brink of war, discovers a passion that will shape her life. In this witty, touching and above all delightful novel, Eva Ibbotson combines an immensely satisfying love story with a gripping account of the gathering storm of war. A Song for Summer is a joy to read.
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. B-format paperback. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. B-format paperback. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New in New jacket. First edition, first printing (indicated by full number sequence, including the 1). Hardbound. NEW! Fine in a fine dust jacket. A tight, clean copy, unread. NOT price-clipped. Comes with archival-quality mylar dust jacket protector. Shipped in well padded box. STACKS.
Ellen is raised by forward-thinking, feminist suffragettes in genteel, academic, and nearly sterile surroundings. There's no lack of love but somehow a great lack of homey comfort, for which she longs. And so she creates a life for herself based on the gifts she has for creating home when surrounded by mere stone and wood. Like Ibbotson's other YA heroines, she is very good, and she is very lovable. But that doesn't mean she won't run into trouble and heartache.
I really enjoyed immersing myself in the Austrian countryside just before Hitler stormed though it. You could compare this in many ways to The Sound of Music, for setting and even for character. Take one mother-figure, add several displaced children, stir in some zany neighbors and academics, toss in the simmering touch of not-quite-attainable romance, and add the looming shadow of the Third Reich.
Ibbotson's prose has a lightly musical quality to it, sometimes layered and sometimes lyrical. I don't think the story itself will hold many surprises, but it is a very enjoyable read.