Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2011
448 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
With her fifth novel, critically acclaimed writer and journalist Bella Pollen takes readers into the private dynamics of a family grappling with the loss of father and husband in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, where between elemental beauty and utter bleakness, strange forces are at play.
In 1980 Germany, under Cold War tension, a mole is suspected in the British Embassy. When the clever diplomat Nicky Fleming dies suddenly and suspiciously, it's convenient to brand him the traitor. But was his death an accident, murder, or suicide? As the government digs into Nicky's history, his wife, Letty, relocates with her three children to a remote Scottish island hoping to salvage their family. But the isolated shores of her childhood retreat only intensify their distance, and it is Letty's brilliant and peculiar youngest child, Jamie, who alone holds on to the one thing he's sure of: his father has promised to return and he was a man who never broke a promise.
Exploring the island, Jamie and his teenaged sisters discover that a domesticated brown bear has been marooned on shore, hiding somewhere among the seaside caves. Jamie feels that the bear may have a strange connection to his father, and as he seeks the truth, his father's story surfaces unexpected ways. Bella Pollen has an uncanny ability to capture the unnoticeable moments in which families grow quiet. A novel about the corrosive effects of secrets and the extraordinary imagination of youth, The Summer of the Bear is Pollen's most ambitious and affecting book yet.
"Starred Review. A sensitive and literate story told on several levels, all of them believable—if some of them improbable, too." - Kirkus
"A haunting, unsentimental look at estranged families and hidden secrets... Magically melancholy... Tender and wistful, Pollen doesn't shy away from harsh truths, but at the heart of her story there's an unquenchable belief in love and redemption." - Marie Claire (UK)
"Part fairy tale, part suspense thriller, this magical book grips hold of you, almost creating the sensation of an out-of-body experience - one that'll keep you holding your breath until the very last minute." - Easy Living (UK)
"[A] show-stealing, fantastic portrayal of under-parented children." - Publishers Weekly
"Pollen sensitively and intricately takes each family member through painful stages of grief and longing." - Booklist
"The mystery here is satisfying.... It's a sweet, affecting, well-wrought tale of a family torn apart and then reunited and will charm most fiction readers." - Library Journal
"Bewitching... A heartfelt novel." - Glamour (UK)
"The plotting is lucid, the dialogue crisp, and the characterization first class. It is a pleasure to spend time in the company of such a relaxed, polished, storyteller." - Mail On Sunday (UK)
"The Summer of the Bear is a heartbreaking story about a family stranded on a Scottish island, shrouded in mystery." - In Style
"A gently absorbing tale, which smoothly splices poignant family drama with suspenseful Cold War thriller." - Daily Mail (UK)
"Pollen is brilliant at portraying the bewilderment of the Fleming children... This is a gentle, haunting tale that stayed with me long after I finished reading." - Daily Express (UK)
"The story of Jamie and siblings is heartbreaking but interspersed with a knowing humour as Pollen captures the subtle witticisms of the islanders as they bend and twist the story of the bear until it takes on a sort of mythical status." - Scotsman Magazine
"Part spy thriller and part ghost story, this book will keep you enthralled to the last page." - The Sunday Post
This information about The Summer of the Bear 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.
Bella Pollen is a writer and journalist who has contributed to a wide variety of publications including Vogue, The Observer, and The Sunday Telegraph. She is the author of four other novels including Midnight Cactus and Hunting Unicorns, which was a “Best Summer Read” on The Richard & Judy show. She can be found online at http://www.bellapollen.com/.
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