Critics' Opinion:
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Published Jun 2013
400 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
The Last Summer of the Camperdowns, from the best-selling author of Apologize, Apologize!, introduces Riddle James Camperdown, the twelve-year-old daughter of the idealistic Camp and his manicured, razor-sharp wife, Greer. It's 1972, and Riddle's father is running for office from the family compound in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Between Camp's desire to toughen her up and Greer's demand for glamour, Riddle has her hands full juggling her eccentric parents. When she accidentally witnesses a crime close to home, her confusion and fear keep her silent.
As the summer unfolds, the consequences of her silence multiply. Another mysterious and powerful family, the Devlins, slowly emerges as the keepers of astonishing secrets that could shatter the Camperdowns. As an old love triangle, bitter war wounds, and the struggle for status spiral out of control, Riddle can only watch, hoping for the courage to reveal the truth.
The Last Summer of the Camperdowns is poised to become the summer's uproarious and dramatic must-read.
"Kelly's raucous, deliciously creepy novel about the dysfunction of the über wealthy begins in 1972 as the hoity-toity Camperdown clan prepare for another summer of horseback riding, fox hunting, and hors d'oeuvres in their cushy Cape Cod enclave." - Publishers Weekly
"Riveting… Riddle perfectly narrates the events of one crazy, harrowing summer against the tumultuous backdrop of the 1970s. Written with cutting wit and intensity; it doesn't get any better than this." - Library Journal
"The best-selling author of Apologize! Apologize! (2009) returns with another witty take on a dysfunctional family… Kelly is a very entertaining writer with a digressive style and a way with metaphor …readers will find much to like in this colorful story peopled with larger-than-life personalities." - Booklist
"More fine work from a writer with a rare gift for blending wit and rue." - Kirkus
"The Last Summer of the Camperdowns is one of the most delightful beach books evah! It is the literary equivalent of a dozen Wellfleet oysters - salty, sweet, sublime." - Elin Hilderbrand, author of Beautiful Day
"The Last Summer of the Camperdowns is both spooky and smart, with a fun-house-mirror cast of Cape Cod Irish aristocrats like no other. It's as if the Kennedys had catapulted themselves into a tale by Edgar Allen Poe - with rollicking, harrowing, and above all highly entertaining results." - Holly LeCraw, author of The Swimming Pool
"There was no putting down this book. Elizabeth Kelly's riveting The Last Summer of the Camperdowns left me breathless." - Marcy Dermansky, author of Bad Marie
This information about The Last Summer of the Camperdowns 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.
Elizabeth Kelly is the best-selling author of the novel Apologize, Apologize! and is an award-winning journalist. She lives in Merrickville, Ontario, with her husband, five dogs, and three cats.
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