Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2017
288 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
A tense and moving journey through friendship, loss, betrayal, and self-discovery, Eden Summer will plunge its way into your heart and stay there forever.
It starts like any other day for Jess. Get up, draw on eyeliner, cover up tattoos, and head to school. But soon it's clear that this is no ordinary day, because Jess's best friend, Eden, isn't at school ... she's gone missing.
Jess knows she must do everything in her power to find Eden. Before the unthinkable happens.
So Jess decides to retrace the life-changing summer she and Eden have just spent together. But looking back means digging up all their buried secrets, and she soon begins to question everything she thought the summer had been about, and everything she thought she knew about her best friend ...
"High drama and a breathless pace make this a riveting read." - Kirkus
"Part mystery, part romance, Flanagan surpasses the boundaries of these categories with finely crafted psychological portraits, slightly marred by a tonally jarring ending." - Booklist
"Though the novel is suspenseful, the use of Briticisms, the English setting, and other unfamiliar elements might deter American readers, who may feel as though they're driving on the other side of the road." - School Library Journal
"The story is structured over the course of a day, and the time-stamped chapter headings add a sense of urgency while the author carefully fills in the gaps of the narrative. Flanagan is careful not to reveal too much too soon, leaving readers guessing as to what really happened to Eden until the very last page. Ages 12–up." - Publishers Weekly
"A breathless read." - The Guardian (UK) Best New Children's Books
"Readers will...be hooked by this raw and emotional read." - The Sun (UK)
"A truly gripping plot is combined with beautiful, emotionally rich writing." - The Bookseller (UK) One to Watch pick
"A powerful exploration of the extraordinary power of friendship, both truthful and intense. It's that rare and wonderful thing: a thriller of the heart, written from the heart, that hits home straight to the heart." - Melvin Burgess, Carnegie Medal-winning author of Smack
"Dazzing. Utterly gripping. Writing so fresh every chapter leaves you gasping for air and SO tautly plotted it hurts. If you're going to read one book about the true nature of friendship let it be Eden Summer." - Brian Conaghan, Carnegie Medal shortlisted author of When Mr. Dog Bites
This information about Eden Summer was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Liz Flanagan's YA debut is Eden Summer. Until recently, she ran Lumb Bank - the Ted Hughes Arvon Centre - supporting its famous writing courses. She previously worked as a commissioning editor in children's publishing.
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