Book description
In a remote mountain village in northern Portugal, a blue-shattered
house in a garden of lemon trees overlooks the village, the valley, the
winding river. Here, hundreds of miles from their London homes, two
English families have come for a summer holiday. They do not know each
other well, these families, although Claire, in university days, once
thought she knew shy, self-contained Frances as well as anyone. By
chance they have bumped into each other again; on impulse she invites
Frances, her husband Oliver and Tom, their six-year-old son, to join her
own family in Portugal. Claire and Robert have been here before: they
share happy memories with their own children, Jessica and Jack. It soon
becomes clear that this year is going to be different. Tom is restless
and difficult. Sometimes demanding, sometimes withdrawn, he seems,
disturbingly, not quite to belong to either of his parents. Oliver is
distant, exasperated. As for Frances - Claire discovers that she had not
known her at all at university, that she has an inner life kept secret,
until now, from everyone. Shocked and disconcerted, Claire is gradually
caught up in an atmosphere of rising tension and distress. Affectionate
Jack becomes resentful and cruel; steady, generous Robert is unsettled,
hurt by his daughter's withdrawal. Meanwhile Jessica, on the threshold
of adolescence, finds herself falling in love. As always, when adults
are in turmoil it is the children who suffer. In the intense heat and
beauty of this place events move inexorably towards tragedy, and no one
sees who is to be the real victim. Sue Gee's haunting and beautifully
crafted third novel, The Last Guests of the Season, offers the hope of
redemption. It is also, most powerfully, an indictment of a darker side
of love. Sue Gee is an acclaimed and established novelist. Reading in
Bed (2007) was a Daily Mail Book Club selection; The Mysteries of Glass
(2005) was long listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She ran the MBA
Creative Writing Programme at Middlesex University from 2000-2008 and
currently teaches at the Faber Academy. Sue Gee has also published many
short stories, some of which have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and her
most recent publication is a collection of stories, Last Fling (Salt
2011). She lives in London and Herefordshire
