Elizabeth Taylor Centenary: In a Summer Season

During August we will read and discuss Elizabeth Taylor’s eighth novel, In a Summer Season. The description on the back cover reads:

” ‘You taste of rain,’ he said, kissing her. ‘People say I married her for her money,’ he thought contentedly, and for the moment was full of the self-respect that loving her had given him.”

Kate Heron is a wealthy charming widow who marries a man ten years her junior: the attractive, feckless Dermot. They live in commuter country, an hour from London. Theirs is an unconventional marriage, but a happy one. Their special love arms them against the disapproval of conservative friends and neighbors - until the return of Kate's old friend Charles, intelligent, kind, now widowed with a beautiful daughter. Happily, she watches as their two families are drawn together, finding his presence reassuringly familiar. But then one night she dreams a strange and sensual dream: a dream that disturbs the calm surface of their friendship - foreshadowing dramas fate holds in store for them all.

Remember ‘Charles’ from A Game of Hide and Seek, the sensible man Harriet married? He’s back! Not literally the same character, but a similar figure also named Charles. And once again Taylor brings personal life experience into her novels; by the time she was writing this (1958-60) she was living Kate’s life. As Nicola Beauman wrote about Kate, “The strongest feeling in her life is sexual desire; but social convention has ensured that this by subsumed by the demands of The Old Vicarage. … What Elizabeth is exploring here is whether a marriage can succeed if it is lived in public, whether being enmeshed in a social setting/a summer season is the best way for a couple to live its life.” (The Other Elizabeth Taylor, p 320-321)

This book is filled with sexuality, conveyed with Taylor’s usual economy. And we see the characteristic blend of bleak situations and humor, the latter delivered primarily through a cousin (similar to Eleanor in At Mrs Lippincote’s).

As a point of interest, Taylor began writing this book in 1958 but stopped for a time after her son Renny was nearly killed in a car accident and was hospitalized for six months.

What did you think of In a Summer Season?

Looking forward to re-reading this one I loved it the first time I read it.

I'm looking forward to hosting it! I very much loved it too, and thanks to Ali for providing my copy!!

I'm in! I haven't ever read this one, and I'm excited.

Happy August everyone! Hope as many of you as possible will join us for In A Summer Season. I have to say it's one of my favourite (if not *the* favourite) Taylors so far. Introductory post here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/elizabeth-taylor-centena...

and hopefully another on Friday!

I've started to read it ... it's a bit, erm, blah, for me so far. About 50 pages in. But I'll persevere!

This was, I think, the second Taylor I read. I remember cracking up in the scene in which the daughter character, who collects street signs and public notices, points out a great one that came from a men's public toilet.

I finished it earlier today - my second reading of it. I've updated my review of it -but struggled to write it to be honest - brain a bit sluggish today for some reason.

Lovely review Ali!

First week's post here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/elizabeth-taylor-centena...

Happy to say that I'm enjoying this a LOT more now; it suddenly "took" about the time of the, erm, phone call and picnic ... nice use of little sections with short flashbacks as well which make it intriguing and a little jumbled (stuckinabook won't like that though, will he, or does he just not like books that start that way?).

Hope everyone is enjoying this month's Taylor and this week's post is now live:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/elizabeth-taylor-centena...

Yay! I really loved this....finished it today....I've decided that I've really got to read books almost in one hit if I possibly can....I enjoy them much better if I read them that way. Will write a review when I'm more compis mentis but really really really liked this one. Can you tell I liked it?????

Yup! I think you liked it!

(So did I!)

I finished this at the end of last week and loved it too. Karen, your posts are very perceptive and I found myself mentally nodding and exclaiming "Yes! That's absolutely right!" as I read!

I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but if you haven't finished the book you m ay want to skip this anyway.

Honestly, I have to say I felt rather contemptuous towards Dermot most of the time, for his veneer of charm and looks which he seems to use to get by. This made the revelation at the end regarding Kate's favourite book incredibly touching, although the event preceeding this was, I felt, a bit too convenient. I was moved by Minty's fate - Taylor seemed to me to have enjoyed creating this ultra-stylish, languid, ravenous creature, which meant I was in for a shock. As usual, I adored the secondary and minor characters - the gossipy church ladies, Aunt Ethel and Gertrude (Ethel could so easily have been nothing but a comic caricature, but Taylor makes her so much more) and Louisa, whose crush on Father Blizzard is dealt with so tenderly.

This may be my favourite of Taylor's novels so far; there are so many things I loved about it in addition to those I've mentioned.

Thanks for your kind comments, Claire - I'm very glad I got this book to cover because I enjoyed it very much and like you it may well turn out to be my favourite. I think it's all the different elements working together so well - nothing seems superfluous!

You're right on target about the secondary characters, Claire. I love E.T., so I loved this one too, but it's not one of my favorites because of Kate herself. I don't find much to her even though she's beautifully drawn. (Just to repeat what I said on Karen's blog...)

This week's post, which is the review, is now live:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/elizabeth-taylor-centena...

(There *are* spoilers, though not too huge ones!)

Working working working so don't have time to put this on the review on here yet, but this includes my review of In A Summer Season http://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/book-reviews-22/

>18 LyzzyBee:: Nice review - I too loved Louisa and the many small things that conspired to try her. The original green cover is one of my favourites, but you're right, it doesn't really reflect the book's content. A lot of the original green Taylors seem to have had floral covers though, so perhaps they were going for a "look" in general rather than something specific to each novel.

Sakerfalcon's 13th August post says it all for me. I too enjoyed minor characters, especially Aunt Ethel; Taylor excels at older women keen to preserve their health with special foods and supplements. Must try nutmegs in my pockets. I enjoyed Minty too - what a creation - and was saddened by her casual death at the hands of bounder Dermot. I found the ending contrived for the author's convenience and unconvincing for this reader. And how convenient for twice widowed Kate to have reliable Charles on hand.

This was the only one of ET's books that was new to me and I was disappointed. It had some noveletish elements. However, I did read it in short bursts, never satisfactory; one day I'll read it again in longer stretches and see its structure more clearly.

Now I liked Kate! How old was she? Forty? That means she had to marry at 17 to have a 22 year old son. Only a year older than her daughter who has the crush on the vicar.

I'm sure she had a happy, very comfortable first marriage. But passion? ( Gee, I remember my inexperience and that was during the sexual revolution!) Kate was practically a child bride with probably an inexperienced young husband who become parents immediately.

No wonder she opts for a passionate relationship with a handsome, charming younger man who knows his way around a woman's body. What a bonus to have the chance of a very satisfying sex life.

Of course, the relationship can only be temporary because sex just isn't enough. The embarrassing scene where Dermot thinks a fictional character is a real person illustrates their lack of compatibility outside the bedroom. Too bad, like Tom and his girlfriends, Kate couldn't just sleep with Dermot. But middle class women didn't do that...much.

Here's another thought. What if the sexes were reversed and Dermot were the 40 year old man, comfortably well off, who married a beautiful, charming 30 year old woman. Not only would it not seem unusual, but certainly the wife would not be expected to find a job for the sake of appearances.

21: Very good point in your last paragraph - Taylor was tackling what was then quite a taboo and in some circles still is! Why is it quite acceptable for a huge age gap between and older man and younger woman but not vice versa??

Final round up here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/elizabeth-taylor-centena...

Looking forward to September's read with Ali!

It took me some pages to get into this one but I ended up loving it a great deal. With Taylor I frequently find that my favorite characters are not the lead characters but the secondary ones and with In A Summer Season this was no different. I really enjoyed the characters of Lou, Charles, Ethel, Edwina, & Father Blizzard. I even engaged with Tom whom I found to have so many underlying issues to think about as I read of him. But Kate was a bore and Dermot a juvenile idiot with no redeeming qualities. What a letdown he must have been after Kate's first husband.
The end of the book did not surprise me in the least as I had been waiting for it since the purchase of the new auto.
But I love how Ms. Taylor reveals the layers of her characters to us. And she takes her time with the storyline and lets it flow. I am looking forward to the September selection, The Soul of Kindness. I am loving reading one special author throughout the year and already looking forward to next year's author of choice.