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Sir Alfred Munnings, retiring President of the Royal Academy, chooses the 1949 Annual Banquet to launch a savage attack on Modern Art. The effect of his diatribe is doubly shocking, leaving not only his distinguished audience gasping but also many people tuning in to the BBC's live radio broadcast. But as he approaches the end of his assault, the speech suddenly dissolves into incoherence when he stumbles over a name - a name he normally takes such pains to avoid - that takes him back forty years to a special time and a special place. Summer in February is a disturbing and moving re-creation of a celebrated Edwardian artistic community enjoying the last days of a golden age soon to be shattered by war. As resonant and understated as The Go-Between, it is a love story of beauty, deprivation and tragedy.… (more)
User reviews
Summer in February is a snapshot in time, covering only a few years prior to the outbreak of WW1 and revolving around the love triangle between Munnings, Florence and the estate manager Gilbert Evans.
Jonathan Smith evokes a wonderful sense of scene. When reading the book you can smell the tang of the sea air mingled with the artist's turpentine. All the characters are well portrayed and by the end of the book you feel that you know them all personally, their desires, their motivations and their passions.
Summer in February has now been made into a film starring Dominic Cooper as AJ Munnings, Dan Stevens as Gilbert Evans and Emily Browning as Florence Carter-Wood. It's due to be released in 2013.
The author conjures up a picture of these golden times before the war and he conveys a real sense of place that lets the reader breathe the salty air and smell the paint. I only have the most basic knowledge of these painters, but now I feel like I have been there with them. Of course it is a novel, but Jonathan Smith was supported by David Evans, the grandson of Gilbert Evans, and had access to the latter's diaries.
I don't think that this novel is for everyone, and it features dark topics like suicide and illness, but I just loved the characters and the atmosphere and every word struck a chord with me. As always when I truly love a book, my words feel inadequate when I try to write a review and describe just what I love about it - so I'll leave it at that and just say that this story touched my soul.