2021-02-05
A London teen recounts the summer that tore the family apart.
Every summer, a White English family with four children holidays at the father’s inherited seaside home. Because the father’s cousin, Hope, and her longtime Scottish partner, Malcolm, stay a few doors down the beach, the entire family is in and out of each other’s houses and lives. Their days have always been filled with sailing, tennis, horseback riding, and jovial dinners, making summer an idyllic time for all. Until this summer. The narrator—the oldest child and an unnamed, ungendered teen with plans to go to art school soon—recalls the insidious transition when teenage Kit Godden, the offspring of a legendary bronze-skinned Hollywood actor, and Hugo, his slightly younger brother, stay with Hope and Mal as the couple plans their end-of-summer wedding. While Hugo seems to lurk in corners, golden-skinned Kit, with “hair like Medusa’s snakes,” ingratiates himself with the family, starting a controlling relationship with the narrator’s 16-year-old “sex goddess” sister and stirring conflicting, sometimes lustful, emotions in the narrator. Through the narrator’s keen observations, made more poignant in hindsight and through sarcasm, readers view the twisting and turning development of Kit’s manipulation. Although slim, Rosoff’s taut, psychological story elicits a slow burn, leaving readers wondering how far and wide Kit’s power will extend through the family. It’s all just the beginning of the narrator’s loss of innocence.
A searing coming-of-age novel. (Fiction. 14-18)
As a British family of six takes its annual beach holiday, narrator Ell Potter's delivery is informed by the voice of the unnamed, ungendered young adult narrator.… Potter's narration focuses on the emotional arc, tone, and characterizations of this story. Listeners will enjoy this finely crafted novel in which time and traditions endure amid plot twists and the protagonist's struggle to find his footing.” ―AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner
“A British family of six takes its annual vacation to the beach for what is sure to be a glorious summer. ...Printz Award–winner Rosoff (How I Live Now, 2004) has written an absolutely remarkable coming-of-age story. Everything about it—style, substance, mood, atmosphere, tone, and especially characterization—is spot-on. One wants to read the book several times to tease out how Rosoff achieves her effects. The effort is a joy, just like this unforgettable novel, the first of a planned, summer-themed trio.”—Booklist (starred review)
“While the title may hint at The Great Gatsby and its charismatic protagonist, the keenly self-aware book has much stronger connections to classic British coming-of-age novels such as Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, wherein the affectionate, sharply observed family characterization and the atmosphere play roles as large as any romantic element. . . . There’s enough tension here that readers may hope for a ramp-up into full thriller, but the story moves toward a different kind of satisfying conclusion, with victory lying in an unpredictable tennis match and the ability to preserve the possibilities of future summers.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)
“A London teen recounts the summer that tore the family apart... Through the narrator’s keen observations, made more poignant in hindsight and through sarcasm, readers view the twisting and turning development of Kit’s manipulation. Although slim, Rosoff’s taut, psychological story elicits a slow burn, leaving readers wondering how far and wide Kit’s power will extend through the family. It’s all just the beginning of the narrator’s loss of innocence. A searing coming-of-age novel.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Through an unnamed, ungendered teen’s sharp eye and knowing narration, Printz Medalist Rosoff tells a dryly humorous story of summer and love gone awry. . . Between Mal and Hope’s wedding planning, the Godden brothers’ tensions, and Kit’s erratic attentions, the summer darkens, leading this effective character study and depiction of childhood’s end to a surprising climax.”—Publishers Weekly
“Meg Rosoff's The Great Godden is a first-rate coming-of-age novel told by an astute and appealing unnamed narrator over the course of one uncharacteristically fraught seaside summer. . . . The Great Godden is filled with equal parts drama and reflection, delivering a riveting novel of love and betrayal that is deftly and elegantly written.”—Shelf Awareness
“The predictable pleasures of a family’s holiday implode when two brothers—one brooding, one charming—come to stay. A taut page-turner.”
—People Magazine
As a British family of six takes its annual beach holiday, narrator Ell Potter’s delivery is informed by the voice of the unnamed, ungendered young adult narrator. Connection and joy have always been the context of vacations with Cousin Hope, who lives at the shore. This particular summer will end with Hope’s wedding and begins with the arrival of the two American brothers, left with Hope by their mother. Kit, the elder, is golden in appearance and attitude. He overshadows his brother and even the narrator’s beautiful sister, Mattie. Potter’s narration focuses on the emotional arc, tone, and characterizations of this story. Listeners will enjoy this finely crafted novel in which time and traditions endure amid plot twists and the protagonist’s struggle to find their footing. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine