The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop: the novel that haunts and heals
What if your perfect teenage memories ended up being a horrific lie? (TW*) Flicking beautifully between past and present, The Girls of Summer (2023) follows Rachel as she delves into her past romance with Alistair, an older man she met in Greece. Surrounded by glistening waters, red-hot sand and boozy parties on the beach every night, Rachel and her friends had the summer most teenage girls dream of. At least, that's what they thought at the time. Years on and now married to another man, Rachel is forced to revisit those summer memories and confront the scary fact that she might have been a victim too. Could it be possible that they were caught up in something far more dangerous than they could have ever imagined? This novel cut me straight to the core. Positioned not far from the #MeToo movement, Bishop explores consent and vulnerability in a way that any woman who has been cat-called (which is most of us) will find this story unsettlingly familiar. Rachel's experienc...
