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Original poster

Summer Of My German Soldier.

26 replies

Brontebiscuits · 03/11/2016 21:40

I read this over and over again when I was about 14/15 and loved it so much. I've just found it and ordered it from Amazon. I'm going to be so disappointed when I read it again aren't I?! Grin. Anyone else read it or what books did you love as a teen that didn't stand the test of time?!

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beatricequimby · 04/11/2016 17:07

No it is absolutely fantastic. I just reread it and cried.

Decided it was too sad for dd(10) though but will give it to her in a few years.

Original poster
Brontebiscuits · 04/11/2016 17:13

Oh yes I remember it being so sad and I used to cry every time. I had a massive crush on Anton! Did you ever read the follow up book Beatrice?

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mouldycheesefan · 04/11/2016 17:15

Oh goodness hadn't heard of this in years! Takes me back to my youth, now I want to read it again.

passportmess · 04/11/2016 17:15

I didn't know there was a followup book!

passportmess · 04/11/2016 17:21

Bronte the sequel is listed as 'Morning is a long time coming'. Is it possible that 'Beatrice' is an alternative title? Had no idea that there was a follow up. I love the original. Patty was treated so poorly by her family.

passportmess · 04/11/2016 17:22

I'm an idiot! Beatrice was a previous poster! Sorry!

Original poster
Brontebiscuits · 04/11/2016 17:24

Passport Grin
Yes that's the title. I don't think I knew there was one when I read the original. My copy is arriving tomorrow- I can't wait to read it again.

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passportmess · 04/11/2016 17:29

It's Friday, it's after five, my brain has switched off for the weekend....!

Patty was so scapegoated by her family. She reached out to a surrogate family as best she could: Anton, the family housekeeper, the reporter...

Original poster
Brontebiscuits · 04/11/2016 17:33

Yes I think I remember that her dad was a particularly unpleasant character- is that right? (Been 25 years at least since I read it!!)

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passportmess · 04/11/2016 17:34

I quite liked an adult book called ' The Collaborator' by Margaret Leroy about a woman who falls in love with a German Captain on Guernsey during WWII. It is beautifully written.

passportmess · 04/11/2016 17:35

Yes, the father was very difficult and the mother preferred her younger sister. Very sad.

BroomstickOfLove · 04/11/2016 17:40

I loved that story and had a huge crush on Anton. I had an elaborate fantasy in which I met him in similar circumstances and we fell in love and I got pregnant but he was shot before I could tell him and when my family found out they kicked me out and I travelled through post-war Europe with my baby looking for his family who took me in and loved me. And possibly, in the end, it turned out that he wasn't actually dead and we got married and lived happily ever after. Blush

passportmess · 04/11/2016 17:45

WinkGrin Everyone liked Anton Broomsticks. I can well understand your sequel storyline.

Original poster
Brontebiscuits · 04/11/2016 17:49

Wow Broomstick! I had something similar Blush. Every time I read it, I willed him not to get killed.

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Original poster
Brontebiscuits · 04/11/2016 17:55

Wasn't the collaborator made into a TV drama passport? It rings a bell.

I can still remember Anton talking to Patty about fighting and how he was bored waiting to advance for 99% of the time and absolutely petrified the times he had to fight. I think it rang true with real life accounts of ww1 and ww3 I'd read.

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HughLauriesStubble · 04/11/2016 18:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BroomstickOfLove · 04/11/2016 18:08

I never really enjoyed the Kevin and Sadie books that much, probably because I grew up in Belfast during the Troubles, but in a very middle-class mixed area, so while it was nice to read about the places I was familiar with, it also felt like reading about stuff that was supposed to be exotic but wasn't.

Original poster
Brontebiscuits · 04/11/2016 18:08

It's great to realise other people have a soft spot for this book!

I will look up 'Across The Barricades' up Hugh. Love a star-crossed lovers tale. It all goes back to Romeo and Juliet I suppose...

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Original poster
Brontebiscuits · 04/11/2016 18:10

Another book I reread recently was 'The Fog Line' but that wasn't strictly a YA novel. It was unrelentingly depressing, I have to say!

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pastapestoparmesan · 04/11/2016 18:14

I absolutely loved this as a teenager and have re-read it quite a few times as an adult and still love it! However, I'm currently halfway through the sequel and I'm just not feeling it in the same way. Disappointing. I think it's the lack of Anton!

exWifebeginsat40 · 04/11/2016 18:16

I have a book called 'Goodbye Summer' that I stole from the school library in 1986. I read it every once in a while and it's still perfect.

BroomstickOfLove · 04/11/2016 18:20

I think I might have stolen Pennington's Seventeenth Summer from the school library.

Gardencentregroupie · 04/11/2016 18:22

Is the sequel to this one where she's on a cruise ship and feels sick before dinner but acts all.poised and can't believe people actually like her, and she's in Germany and wildly over tips because she's not used to spending Marks?

SenecaFalls · 04/11/2016 18:26

I've never read it but I do remember seeing the made-for-TV film of it in the States, which was quite good as I recall.

passportmess · 04/11/2016 21:43

Bronte I don't think 'The Collaborator' was adapted for TV - shame because it would be stunning.