The Book of Summers

Hall's debut novel is being billed in most women's magazines as the perfect summer read. I can see why, and not just because of the title. The Book of Summers is an evocative, highly visual novel which conjures a picture of a country most of us - or at least me - know little about: Hungary. It is inspired by the author's own experiences of spending her summers in the country, and it shows. Reminding me somewhat of Victoria Hislop's novels, Hall's writing draws the reader into an enticingly foreign world, with detailed descriptions of parched fields and rural lakes, barbecues on the veranda and the vivid colours of the Mediterranean.

Within this authentic setting Hall places the fictitious story of Beth Lowe, a 30-something Londoner forced to reflect on her childhood, which was forever fractured by the departure of her Hungarian mother, who left nine-year-old Beth and her father in Devon and returned to Hungary. In the summers that follow, Beth - or Erzsi, as she is known - visits her mother, Marika, in her new home and grows into a young woman flushed with love for her Hungarian roots. But when Beth is 16 Marika reveals a long-held secret which devastates their hard-won happiness.

While the present day sections of the novel seem a touch thin, Hall has a real gift for portraying the frustrations and excitement of adolescence. Beth's coming-of-age through seven summers is well drawn, as are the relationships she shares with her free-spirited mother, her reserved, sorrowful father and the Hungarian boy she falls in love with. The set-up is clever, because it is the clash between these personalities that leads to the heartbreaking denouement.