Every Summer After

Finished June 8

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Set mostly in Barry's Bay, Ontario, this novel is centered around Percy (Persephone) Fraser. After having some social issues at school, Percy's parents bought a cottage in Barry's Bay, thinking it would do her good to have her away from the city for the summer and many weekends. 

They spent six years going there, and from the start Percy was befriended by the two boys who lived next door, Sam and Charlie Florek. Sam is Percy's age, a quiet, smart, and observant boy. Charlie is a couple years older, always with a group of friends and also popular with the girls, much more social than his brother. They live with their mom, who runs a local popular restaurant. 

Something happened at the end of that six years to the growing relationship between Sam and Percy, and because it was also the year that Percy's parents sold the cottage, she has never been back, and the rift has never been resolved. 

The story begins ten years after that, when Charlie lets Percy know that their mother has died and invites her to the funeral service. Percy must take her guilt and her fear and face Sam again. But what will she say? And will words make a difference? 

While the story starts in the present, it quickly moves back to the beginning of Percy's time at Barry's Bay, and of the beginning of her relationship with the Florek brothers. We see them grow up, with all the teenage angst, the stilted communication when it comes to feelings, and the friendships that grew along with them. 

Fortune brings these characters to life, and you can sense their insecurities and their fears as they take on adulthood. The reunion years later has lots of loaded emotions and years that neither of them shares with each other that they must catch up on. A book full of feeling.