FICTION

Invincible Summer

by Alice Adams
Little, Brown. Jul. 2016. 304p. ISBN 9780316391177. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780316391184. F
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[DEBUT]It's 1997 in Bristol, England, and four carefree college chums are graduating from university. Their world is filled with promise and as their futures begin to unfold the four know that they'll always have one another to help face what life has in store. Of course, the group scatters: physics grad Eva abandons her socialist background for the world of high finance; fellow physics geek Benedict, long besotted with Eva, remains at university to pursue a PhD; and siblings Sylvie and Lucien embrace bohemian lifestyles—she as an artist and he as a club promoter and occasional drug dealer. Over the next 20 years, the friends drift apart, reconnect, slip in and out of one another's lives, then return to the challenges of navigating adulthood alone, one crisis at a time.
VERDICT Debut author Adams has crafted a light, charming tale of love, loss, and the lasting power of friendship. The format of the book occasionally feels jarring—each chapter jumps forward in time, sometimes by months, sometimes years—and readers are left wondering where and when they are. But the characters are engaging and one cannot help but care about them. All in all, a perfect summer read. [See Prepub Alert, 12/7/15.]
Reviewed by Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY , Jun 24, 2016
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