Under a Dark Summer Sky

Written by Vanessa Lafaye

Narrated by Karen Chilton

SUMMERTIME is set in Florida in 1935 in a small town struggling with the effects of the Depression, and at the time of the great hurricane. The racially charged narrative swirls around Missy, with her courageous dedication to duty, who works for the Kincaid family; Henry, a long absent WWI soldier who still loves Missy, the girl he left behind; Henry's sister and Missy's friend Selma with her no-nonsense approach to crises; and Sheriff Dwayne Campbell, whose duty is to protect Henry, but who has personal reasons for wanting Henry to suffer. From the tense opening chapter, this atmospheric story is beautifully constructed and seductive. Vanessa is a natural story-teller, who vividly evokes the landscape, climate, and the people sweating under the broiling Florida sun and the weight of past decisions. As they try to grasp at the small potential for happiness that may still exist for them, their lives are tested to the limit by the devastation of a hurricane. The novel is based on real historical events.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490673820

Reviews for Under a Dark Summer Sky

[elizabethcromb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story about the post WW1 treatment by US government of returned veterans through the story of a bridge build exercise in Florida and what happens during a massive hurricane. Based on fact.

[marjorie.mallon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was lucky to win Summertime from Holly at Bookaholic Confessions. I have to say that I was thrilled when my copy of Summertime arrived, I hadn’t realised that I’d won a hardback copy! I sensed this would be a good book, and in this I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, not only did I enjoy Summertime, I would say that I loved Summertime.

It is an excellent debut by Vanessa Lafaye and I would highly recommend it.

Summertime is a fictional story based upon the labour day hurricane of 1935. It is set in Heron Key in Florida during the nineteen thirties. In this fictionalised account the storm takes place after the 4th July celebrations. There is an annual beach party in which racial tensions are set to explode, like lit fireworks, but the celebratory fireworks hold back, refusing to light. The habitual fight between white and black is engrained into the very fabric of this society ravaged by a deep and destructive racial divide.

I loved the sense of place, which is conveyed so vividly in the opening paragraph: “The humid air felt like water in the lungs, like drowning.”

The characters – there are so many and yet Vanessa Lafaye details them all in a way that makes them so real, and engaging. There are so many elements to this novel, it touches upon racial tensions, an attempted murder, the far-reaching effects of abuse, even magical spells play a part!

The developing love story between Missy and Henry is so endearing. The reader senses that Henry will do anything to protect Missy, and Missy will wait for Henry forever if needs be. Missy loves the white baby boy that she cares for, and wants only to protect him from harm. Henry arrives back in Heron Key but he is not the same man who left, war has left him in a state in which : “He felt like a ghost, haunting a former life where he didn’t belong any more.” Missy has grown from a child into a strong young woman who will fight against the forces of nature to get what she wants: “She was tired of being blown around like a leaf, with no say in anything that mattered. Anger rose up her spine like a column of molten steel and her back straightened…… By God, I will not fail at this.”

The way in which Vanessa Lafaye transports you to the very eye of the storm, make this in my opinion a must read novel. The two main characters Missy and Henry are without doubt my favourites. Henry is so drawn to Heron Key, even though he knows Heron’s Keys terrible shortcomings. Henry has experienced a sense of freedom in a culture of non-discrimination in his time in the battlefields of France, but is this a country he wants to call home? Vanessa Lafaye uses a rubber band analogy to suggest how drawn he is to Heron Key: “It was like he was attached to the place by a long rubber band that was now stretched to its absolute limit.”

The war veterans are all different, some are good men, some are not, but none of them are welcomed in Heron Key. These hardened men don’t seem so tough when they encounter the force of the hurricane. It is as if the sheer force of the destructive natural elements of the hurricane are so much more fierce and terrifying than the atrocities of war. In a war, I suppose you have a sense of when the battle is over but in a hurricane, no such certainty exists, just when the winds quieten you realise that the hurricane is playing with you, it is deceiving you, readying itself to deliver its final fatal blow.

” There was a collective moan, which quickly rose to an awful, haunt-ing cry. It sent a stab of dread right through Trent’s heart. He knew that noise, had heard it before: it was the sound men make when they realise they are about to die.”

Not only can the winds get you but the rising water can too: “So this is what it feels like to die in a washing machine!”

The aftermath is devastating: “In the quiet left by the wind, he noticed the complete absence of birds. No gulls, no pelicans, no buzzards, even with the carpet of death below him.”

The carnage that the hurricane leaves in its wake is every bit as devastating and shocking as a war zone. The hurricane strips everyone bare of their possessions, their clothes, and ultimately their human dignity. Survival becomes paramount, petty quarrels, and racial hatred are stripped away for that tiny moment in time. Yet, there are always those with hatred in their hearts, who instigate fear and hatred in others, and this is demonstrated so clearly when white people ask the black folks to leave the apparent safety of the shelter when there is not enough room: “Traitorous stars shone within a circle of swirling cloud.”

The epilogue ends with the words, “Time to begin,” suggesting a new life will start, this new life won’t be without its trial and tribulations but it will be filled with a new-found sense of hope.

I tend to get so involved in books. This time I was so deeply affected by Summertime that one night I dreamt that my bed was filled with hurricane winds! I could feel myself being lifted, and buffeted on a bed of sheets, and thrown up and down in the air. Luckily my dream carried me gently up and down as if I was on a trampoline of buffeting air, but sadly in this book, and in real life many people die in hurricanes, white and black alike, the interesting and emotive point that Vanessa Lafaye makes is this: the hurricane doesn’t discriminate. There are so many poignant moments, family members choose death rather than be separated from their loved ones, mothers save their children instead of themselves. Life is such a precious treasure, why waste it by hating other people just because they’re different?

My rating:

It couldn’t be less than 5 stars

[1forthebooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I started reading Under a Dark Summer Sky, I was immediately intrigued by the storytelling and was sucked into the novel. The author opens the novel and I could already tell that there was something stirring up. I got an instant sense of uneasiness which compelled me to continue reading as I wanted to know what was making me so uneasy and also whether or not it would ever be settled. The novel moved at a fast pace and started right in the middle of the action.
As far as the characters, there were quite a few but I enjoyed all of them. At times I did get a bit confused because there were so many characters to remember but they all added something to the plot. The dynamic of how they and their characteristics worked together (or against each other) was realistic and refreshing. For example there was an ongoing conflict between Ronald and Ike and it was not magically solved by the end of the novel. This gave their relationship a realistic aspect as most conflicts take time to resolve.
Just as I was sucked in to the first page, the author also did a great job tying up this novel at the end. I was not ready for it to end. I became attached to the characters and the fictional town, Heron Key. Every part of this novel was purposeful and well planned, even down to the gripping descriptions and scenes of the horrific hurricane and its aftermath. I loved the fact that although there were racial tensions and tensions between the Veterans and the Conchs, these things became unimportant as they all struggled with survival.
Overall, this novel was refreshing and captivating as I couldn't put it down and I became highly attached to the characters and their stories. The storytelling was powerful as the author weaved different cultural aspects of the Floridian town as well as historical elements together.
There are just so many good things to say about this novel but I’ll stop here. Read it!
I highly recommend this novel!

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read this novel.

[creighley_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What started out as a remarkable story of racial tension and civil rights, ended too abruptly. Missy has waited 18 years for Henry's return from the war, but when he finally arrives, he is a much changed man. He refuses to stay with his family but prefers to stay with the other veterans who are working on a bridge in deplorable conditions. A Fourth of July picnic is planned where racial tensions and bad feelings about the veterans mount. A white woman is brutally attacked on her way home and Henry becomes a prime suspect. A lot of good characters and plots are "blown away" by the arrival of a hurricane. All of the built up suspense evaporates and we are left with a very ineffective epilogue.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Much of the history in this book is actually true, the vets not being given their bonus pay, the racial injustice blacks faced after serving in the armed forces and then returning home to their families. The vets sent to the Florida Keys to build roads and the abysmal conditions they lived in. The hurricane that hit Islamorada in the Keys, though in this book it is called Heron Bay. But what makes the story our the people on the island, this is the part that is created and the author did a wonderful job. One gets the full force of racial segregation, relationships that are not what they should be and even a little voodoo thrown on for a little magical realism. When the storm hits it is horrific and powerful, as are the descriptions. The desperation, the fear, which brings out the worst and the best in people. Intense and violent, the few whom are left after the storm must work to bring their community back together.Wonderful, solid storytelling, using historical events as a background for a little known period of history. As always the author's note is appreciated. One interesting fact is that when the actual hurricane hit the Keys, Hemingway was living in Key West and was one of the first people who came to help.ARC from NetGalley.

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thank you Vanessa Lafaye for restoring my faith in fiction! After a slogging through a trough of mediocre three star novels (and the odd two star disaster), I have finally been rewarded with an intelligent, atmospheric, character-driven story that is both historically instructive (I always love novels I can Wiki later) and captivating. Based on the 1935 Labor Day hurricane - switched to the Fourth of July here - which swept through the Florida Keys, killing hundreds including veterans of World War One, Lafaye effortlessly works fictional lives into historical tragedy. After the Fourth of July celebrations on the beach - the white citizens of Heron Bay neatly segregated from the black - Hilda Kincaid is found brutally beaten on the roadside. Drawn into the search for her attacker is Henry Roberts, a veteran recently returned to his hometown to work in the camps, local sheriff Dwayne Campbell and his nephew Jimmy, and young maid Missy Douglas, Henry's sweetheart and the Kincaid's maid. Amid racial tension and personal grievances, the people of Heron Key face a greater threat - a storm is building into one of the worst hurricanes of all time.Where to start! I hate when reviewers gush that a book is 'unputdownable', but bar a quick recharge of my Kindle, I stayed glued to this story all day. The characters are sympathetic - although the relationship between blacks and whites might fall into the category of The Help, I'm not sure - and the shocking attack on Hilda Kincaid carried neatly into the high drama of the hurricane. I cared about everyone, even the dog and the parrot, and was satisfied by the heartwarming (but slightly corny) ending. The reader is thrown into the death and destruction of nature by the author's evocative writing, and never once does the story turn into a history textbook - but I like to think I learnt something new about another time and place all the same! A stunning debut - definitely recommended.