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A Song for Summer | 
 enlarge | Author: Eva Ibbotson
Publisher: Puffin
Category: Book
List Price: $8.99
Buy Used: $2.90
You Save: $6.09 (68%)
New (36) Used (18) from $2.90
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 37332
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0142408662
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780142408667
ASIN: 0142408662
Publication Date: May 10, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: (Airport Place Books does not ship on Saturdays and Sundays. We are unable to ship to "The Republic of Korea".)
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Product Description
Eighteen-year-old ellen never expected the Hallendorf school to be, well, quite so unusual. After all, her life back in england with her suffragette mother and liberated aunts certainly couldn t be called normal. but buried deep in the beautiful Austrian countryside, ellen discovers an eccentric world occupied by wild children and even wilder teachers, experimental dancers and a tortoise on wheels. And then there is the particurally intriguing, enigmatic, and very handsome Marek, part-time gardener and fencing teacher. ellen is instantly attracted to the mysterious gardener, but Hitler s reich is already threatening their peaceful world. only when she discovers Marek s true identity and his dangerous mission does ellen realize the depth of her feelings for him and the danger their newfound love faces in the shadow of war.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 romance for the intelligent reader September 29, 2004
A. Craig (London United Kingdom)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
This is one of my all-time favourite books, the kind of comfort-blanket you can turn to when ill, dull or depressed, and almost as good as Jane Austen in that respect. The story is conventional, in the sense that a pretty young girl goes to work as matron in a boarding school and falls in love, but it's the writing, the details and the characters which give it a kind of magic. (Anyone new to Ibbotson's work should also check out her superb children's novels, especially The Star of Kazan, which has a similar heroine). Ellen is the daughter of a trio of fierce feminists, who are horrified when, instead of pursuing a serious career and finishing her degree at Cambridge, she becomes an expert on matters domestic - cooking espeically. Ellen leaves England to work at a progressive boarding school in Austria, where sensitive children are dumped by rich parents and taught to be forks in drama classes. (The author attended Dartington School in the 1930s). Unfortunately, Hitler's rise to power is impingeing even on the demi-paradise of rural Austria, and it turns out the mysterious Marek is rescuing Jews who manage to escape the camps. A composer who wins your heart instantly because he hangs bullies and Nazis out of windows and refuses to let his music be played by the Reich, he falls reluctantly in love with Ellen, but almost loses her thanks to the coming War.
Steeped in good jokes and high culture, this is the kind of romantic novel that like puff pastry looks light and feathery but is the most difficult of all to make - and find. The wit is delicious. Ellen's serious aunts in Bloomsbury, puzzled and mortified by their relation's femininity, the absurd idealism of the school, and Ellen's quiet battle with disorder are like Cold COmfort Farm only without the snobbishness and anti-Semitism.
Another winner from Ibbotson! September 4, 1999
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
If you haven't discovered Eva Ibbotson, give her a try now. For sheer warm, lyrical beauty, I think there are few authors who can match her. Every sentence is a gem. I find myself trying to read slowly because I know how unhappy I'll be when the book is finished. This book--dealing with the rise of the Nazis and the coming of WWII--was inevitably darker than some of Ibbotson's, but she handles the subject matter beautifully.
 Very nice April 13, 2002
Mark Grinstein-Camacho (Greater Boston, MA, USA)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
I am an avid fan of Eva Ibbotson's children's books, whose descriptions are in between JK Rowlings's and Edith Nesbitt's. This book was slightly less enchanting as her children's fantasies, but there was still that wonderful rich description. I do have to argue against the reviewer who said that few could match her warm, lyrical style; Jane Austen's and Charlotte Bronte's comes close. The plot is a fairly straightforward tale of a young woman who goes to work at a boarding school, so it isn't the most gripping tale, but it's still a wonderful beautiful story. Read it if you love Anne of Green Gables, Jane Eyre, or Ms. Ibbotson's fantasy books, or if you love the English language, or just spend a sophisticated, enjoyable few hours with a great book. Email me if you want more info or have a specific question.
Romance and Excitement April 23, 2001
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is the first Ibbotson book I had read and it ties with A Countess Below Stairs as my favorite. The author creates such memorable characters that you can't help wanting the story to go on forever. I loaned this book to a friend and we laugh over the characters like Andromeda, the self regulating baby. I could not put it down. I love to tell my friends about Ibbotson, but it seems like all her books are out of print so you have to get them at libraries. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story mixed with a little romance.
There Are Masters of Literature-And Then There Is Eva Ibbotson July 17, 2007
Katherine Graham
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Finally! The highly acclaimed author Eva Ibbotson, (whose books were reviewed decades ago to justifiable superlatives of every sort known to readers everywhere have returned to print). No one writes like Ms. Ibbotson or perhaps ever will. "A Song For Summer, A Novel" will be among the best books you have ever had the honor (and I sincerely mean this...*honor*) to read and own. I do not know of any other author who creates such profoundly deep and complicated characters amid a sentence or two (when reader first meets the heroes and villains) creating the lightest of anecdotes that utterly defines them for one of the best stories you have ever read in your life. Also, in this masterpiece, I would defy anyone to match a wow-of-an-ending that will live as long as you do. In troubled times like ours, we all need a novel like "A Song For Summer" (certainly grand for all ages) not just because it is penned by this unique master of literature; or a fantastically appropriate summer book - but because the novel is so utterly gorgeous from its opening line, to the last sigh - conveying that Ms. Ibbotson brilliantly understands how to utilize art itself to keep us sane when seemingly one's world has gone beyond awry to the virtual reality of insane. I can only thank Amazon.com for bringing back books like this one and making it available at a giveaway price for the treasure it is, and always has been...beyond priceless.
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