Exact and compellingly sensuous' Sunday TimesWhen Grace Hooper and her nine-year-old brother Billy are left orphaned by a freak accident they find themselves cast adrift from their old life - sent to stay with their estranged grandfather at the beginning of a long, hot summer. Finding themselves on the remote and unfamiliar farm they must try to uncover a new understanding of the world and their place in it. But when the bond between brother and sister disintegrates, Grace discovers that the near-deserted farm hosts a tragic past and an uncertain future.At once disturbing and compelling, Summer is beautifully written and deeply atmospheric, a story of loss and regeneration. 'Darling's restrained, distanced narration takes us into a timeless realm of fable . . . a deeply felt parable about children who fall outside the social net' Stevie Davies, Guardian