Research Catalog

Title

Summerlings / Lisa Howorth.

Author

Howorth, Lisa

Publication

New York : Doubleday, [2019]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

243 pages; 20 cm

Summary

• "From beloved bookseller Lisa Howorth comes a Cold War coming-of-age story in which three best friends confront their fears of the Bomb, Russian spies, girls, and their role in the tragic accident that ushers them into adulthood. It's the summer of 1959. For the handful of families who live on Connors Lane, a stone's throw from the Washington Monument, life is still largely defined by what one did during the war. Behind each freshly painted door lives the family of a diplomat, a supposed spook, a former Nazi sympathizer, or someone who escaped the conflagration in Europe just in time. The Cold War is in high gear, and neighborhood tensions are powered by lingering suspicions and resentments. But it is also the summer of an inexplicable spider infestation--surely evidence of "insect warfare" by the Russians, thinks our young narrator John, and his best friends, Ivan and Max. When a rare, scorpion-like creature is captured and sequestered for further study, the boys, along with their tomboy friend, Beatriz, hatch a risky midnight plan to sneak into the Natural History Museum and steal the creature for themselves. At the same time, under the tutelage of Ivan's glamorous aunt Elena, they decide to forge a spirit of bonhomie in the neighborhood by throwing a party in John's grandparents' backyard. Fueled by rum-doctored punch and fireworks, the adults let down their defenses until Elena, already a lightning rod for her swinging social life and outspokenness on behalf of refugees, roars off with a stranger on his motorcycle. What happens when she returns home later that night will change John's life forever. Against this perfectly rendered backdrop of Good Humor trucks, Chesterfield cigarettes, Everly Brothers tunes, and childhood mischief, Lisa Howorth has written a powerful testament to love and friendship amid uncertain times"--
• "A Cold War coming-of-age story in which three best friends confront their fears of The Bomb, Russian spies, girls, and their role in the tragic accident that ushers them into adulthood"--

Subject

• Families > Fiction
• Cold War > Fiction
• Spiders > Fiction
• Friendship > Fiction
• FICTION / Historical
• FICTION / Literary
• Cold war > Fiction
• Washington (D.C.) > History > 20th century > Fiction

Genre/Form

• Bildungsromans.
• Historical fiction.
• Novels.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (page 241).

Call Number

JFC 20-1

ISBN

• 9780385544641
• 0385544642
• 9780385544658 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

• 2018053370
• 40029323041

OCLC

1065969708

Author

Howorth, Lisa, author.

Title

Summerlings / Lisa Howorth.

Publisher

New York : Doubleday, [2019]

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (page 241).

Other Form:

Online version: Howorth, Lisa, author. Summerlings New York : Doubleday, 2019 9780385544658 (DLC) 2019002780

Other Standard Identifier

40029323041

Research Call Number

JFC 20-1