Summerlings

Praise

NOMINATED FOR THE MISSISSIPPI ARTS AND LETTERS AWARD

“As a boy my first literary hero was Tom Sawyer, and ever since I’ve enjoyed the misadventures and romps of kids loose in the summertime. Summerlings is a story rich in local color, humor, outrageous characters, and with a wicked plot.”
—John Grisham, author of The Reckoning

“Summerlings is a manic, finely wrought, compelling dash, that transports the reader back in time to an America (sweet-hearted, wide-eyed) that feels like a lovely, lost foreign country, lost to us in this dark national moment.  Howorth is a joyful writer who charms the reader with her command of detail and her precise nostalgia.”
—George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo

“An engaging coming-of-age story focused on the unraveling of truths hidden just beneath the surface…Howorth has a gift for crafting memorable characters and an authentic sense of place.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Nostalgic but unblinkered. . . . Entertainingly eviscerates the rose-colored notion of postwar tranquility.”
—Shelf Awareness

“Charming, impeccably detailed . . . a rare gemstone of a novel that proves both emotionally resonant and truly transporting. . . . A poignant exploration of childhood innocence as grand as the hopes of its delightful and motley cast of characters.”
—New York Journal of Books

“Lisa Howorth is the real thing! Beautifully written, sweet and ultimately heart-breaking, Summerlings is the To Kill a Mockingbird of the Cold War generation.” 
—Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Be Frank With Me

“Lisa Howorth’s writing is a total joy and Summerlings weaves a generous web of Bazooka gum, Miracle Whip and Cold War paranoia. I so envy her ability to spin the fine details of childhood into a powerful and memorable story like this one.” 
—Sloane Crosley, author of Look Alive Out There

“Lisa Howorth’s Summerlings practically hums with feeling and memory. One can nearly hear the clang of the Good Humor truck, the buzz of the gnats on sweaty summer necks. Funny, poignant and ultimately deeply affecting, it will transport you, move you, take your breath away.”
—Megan Abbott, author of Give Me Your Hand

“Put this novel in whatever is today’s new equivalent of a time capsule – maybe an amygdala implant with a barcode that can be easily scanned?  I read it in one gulp, remembering my childhood in Washington, D.C. with pleasure and pain, totally engrossed, astonished, disconcerted, to feel so young again.  It’s so real.”  
—Ann Beattie, author of A Wonderful Stroke of Luck

“Lisa Howorth’s Summerlings might masquerade as a coming-of-age story—a small pack of boys in 1959, their unhappy DC home lives, the Ukrainian woman they all adore—but in reality it’s so much more. To read this book is to be transported to another era, one both otherworldly yet instantly accessible thanks to Howoth’s incandescent and evocative prose. The experience is akin to falling into someone else’s memories and never wanting to leave.”
—Hannah Pittard, author of Visible Empire