REVIEW: The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff

This is the story of one family, one dreamy summer – the summer when everything changes.

In a holiday house by the sea, our watchful narrator sees everything, including many things they shouldn’t, as their brother and sisters, parents and older cousins fill hot days with wine and games and planning a wedding. Enter two brothers – irresistible, charming, languidly sexy Kit and surly, silent Hugo.

Suddenly there’s a serpent in this paradise – and the consequences will be devastating.

" Everyone talks about falling in love like it’s the most miraculous, life-changing thing in the world. Something happens, they say, and you know. You look into the eyes of your beloved and see not only the person you've always dreamed you'd meet, but the you you've always secretly believed in, the you that inspires longing and delight, the you that no one else really noticed before. That's what happened when I met Kit Godden."

A lyrical, deeply vivid coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of beach houses, sea breezes and flowing wine. The setting was viscerally, making me feel the hazy hot days of summer that drag on endlessly in an intense and rich portrait.

The storytelling was immaculate — a watchful narrator, keeping an eye over this beautiful beach house and it’s beautiful residents as they plan a wedding and enjoy their summer but all the while seeing through the polished exterior of her new guests, to all the dirty secrets and hidden things our characters don’t. The invisible, quiet family member that you let your guard down around — and that includes us as the reader.

They look on curiously as they try and find their place at that limbo between teenager and adult, navigating that painful feeling of first love and realising their family isn’t all they seem to be all while trying to understand what it means to be alive.

Despite the lazy, relaxed storytelling, this was actually a deceptively quick read, making it the perfect poolside companion. The chapters were short with a steady, fast pace that spent just enough time on the details that we get to know the characters but never lingering in one moment for filler or fluff.

Perfect for fans of We Were Liars and This Summers Secrets, this book will transport you back to summer reading in no time.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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