Una petita ciutat del migdia de França, una urbanització on viuen francesos de soca-rel barrejats amb immigrants, dues germanes adolescents que maten els dies d’estiu al centre comercial o a les piscines privades on es colen de nit. Els pares penquen per pagar la hipoteca de la casa unifamiliar, elles somien —fins que la Céline, la gran, queda embarassada. ¿De qui? Es nega a dir el nom de l’amant, la ràbia del pare s’escalfa amb la canícula i es dirigeix a poc a poc contra el veí, amic de sempre de les filles —i musulmà. ( )

Quite an atmpspheric and credible tale of two teenage sisters - smouldering Celine, pregnant- but by whom?- and Johanne, a wild child, yet one with potential. With a violent labourer father, immigrant neighbours (and the racial tensions that go with that) ...and a long hot summer in southern France where the 'white trash' family live alongside wealthy folks...an event is about to take place...
No resoloution really (but are there resolutions in life?) but I felt it conjured up the placew and the people very well. ( )

The Girls of Summer
Review of the Bitter Lemon Press english language paperback edition (2020) translated from the French language original "L'Été circulaire" (2018)

This leaned heavily on the trashy exploitative side with its youthful lusts, teenage pregnancy, domestic abuse, petty theft, violent racism, worker and immigrant exploitation etc. etc. But I still felt emotionally connected and drawn in by the life of the sisters Jo and Celine and their bond. It is noir in the sense that things do not work out happily for everyone and not all crimes are punished (or even discovered).

I read Summer of Reckoning as part of the Borderless Book Club which has been organized by Peirene Press and 7 other UK independent publishers for a 16 week period (May 14 to August 20, 2020) during this current world pandemic situation. It is the successor to the earlier Translated Fiction Online Book Club which was organized for 6 weeks.

There is an Autumn 2020 session planned for the Borderless Book Club from September 3 to December 10, 2020 and the planned book selection can be viewed here.

Trivia and Link
The Summer of Reckoning cover reminded me immediately of the movie poster for Wild Things (1998), which was perhaps an intentional choice by Bitter Lemon Press. ( )