Book Synopsis:
1815, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia
Mount Tambora explodes in a cataclysmic eruption, killing thousands. Sent to investigate, ship surgeon Henry Hogg can barely believe his eyes. Once a paradise, the island is now solid ash, the surrounding sea turned to stone. But worse is yet to come: as the ash cloud rises and covers the sun, the seasons will fail.
1816
In Switzerland, Mary Shelley finds dark inspiration. Confined inside by the unseasonable weather, thousands of famine refugees stream past her door. In Vermont, preacher Charles Whitlock begs his followers to keep faith as drought dries their wells and their livestock starve.
In Suffolk, the ambitious and lovesick painter John Constable struggles to reconcile the idyllic England he paints with the misery that surrounds him. In the Fens, farm labourer Sarah Hobbs has had enough of going hungry while the farmers flaunt their wealth. And Hope Peter, returned from the Napoleonic wars, finds his family home demolished and a fence gone up in its place. He flees to London, where he falls in with a group of revolutionaries who speak of a better life, whatever the cost. As desperation sets in, Britain becomes beset by riots – rebellion is in the air.
The Year Without Summer is the story of the books written, the art made; of the journeys taken, of the love longed for and the lives lost during that fateful year. Six separate lives, connected only by an event many thousands of miles away. Few had heard of Tambora – but none could escape its effects.
The Year Without Summer is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
The Year Without Summer is a fascinating insight into a real historical event that was very thought provoking and moving.
Firstly I hadn’t heard of this historical event before so I found it very interesting to learn more about it. It was quite shocking how much the volcanic eruption affected people both near and far, in ways that I wouldn’t have realised. The author is very skilled at bringing the 17th century to life by including little details like the dialects of people and the way of life back then. It was interesting to learn that people tended to stay local to where the lived rather than travel around which meant the eruption had perhaps a bigger impact then it might do now.
The book follows many different characters, some real historical people and some fictional. Their stories are told in alternative chapters with each character being given a different voice so it is easy to differentiate between them. I enjoyed learning more about them and found that I warmed to them as the story continued. The historical characters were great fun to research on line and learn more about them.
The ending was good but I felt it came to soon as I didn’t want to leave the characters behind. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I’ll definitely be reading more from her in the future.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book. If you like compelling, historical fiction you’ll love this book.
About The Author:
Author Guinevere Glasfurd was born in Lancaster and lives near Cambridge with her husband and daughter.
Her debut novel, THE WORDS IN MY HAND, was shortlisted for the 2016 Costa First Novel Award and Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and was longlisted in France for the Prix du Roman FNAC.
Her second novel, THE YEAR WITHOUT SUMMER, written with support from the MacDowell Colony Foundation, publishes early 2020 and tells the story of the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption and the catastrophic events that followed. Awarded grants from the Arts Council England and the British Council for her novels, her writing has also appeared in the Scotsman, Mslexia and The National Galleries of Scotland.
She is currently working on her third novel, a story of the Enlightenment, set in eighteenth century England and France.
Find out more here:
http://www.guinevereglasfurd.com/
http://www.facebook.com/GuinevereGlasfurdBooks/
http://www.pinterest.com/tworoadsbooks/the-words-in-my-hand/
http://www.tworoadsbooks.com/fiction/the-words-in-my-hand-guinevere-glasfurd/
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Huge thanks for the blog tour support Jo x
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