EXPLORING THE COMPLEX NATURE OF CONSENT, MEMORY, AND POWER, THIS IS THE MOST ANTICIPATEDCOMMERCIAL DEBUT OF 2023.
COMBINING HEADY NOSTALGIA WITH UNCOMFORTABLE REALISATION AS A WOMAN COMES TO TERMS WITH ASUMMER AFFAIR FROM HER TEENS…
‘A mesmerising, unsettling and gripping debut’
CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD
‘It's been a long time since I've read such a compelling debut. Beautifully written, transportive, and thought-provoking, THE GIRLS OF SUMMER sizzles with suspense. It's the book I'll be recommending that all my girlfriends pack for their holidays this summer.’
LUCY CLARKE, bestselling author of THE CASTAWAYS
‘Atmospheric and powerful ... Bishop has crafted a haunting, tense psychological debut, and a final reckoning that will stick with me’CAROLA LOVERING, author of Tell Me Lies
‘Scorching and sexy, it lures you in then shakes you up. A very timely read about consent and control. LOVED IT.’ NIKKI MAY, author of WAHALA
GIRLS
OF
SUMMER
Katie Bishop
25th May 2023 | Bantam Press | Hardback | £14.99 | pp.352
'That place has been my whole life. Everything I thought I knew about myself was constructed in those few months I spent within touching distance of the sea. Everything I am is because Alistair loved me.'
Rachel has been in love with Alistair since she was seventeen.
Even though she hasn't seen him for sixteen years and she's now married to someone else.
Even though she was a teenager when they met.
Even though he is twenty years older than her.
She's found it impossible to let go of their summer together on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island.
Until now.
When Rachel unexpectedly reconnects with a girl that she knew back then, she is forced to re-examine her memories of that golden summer and confront the truth about her relationship with Alistair and about her time working for an enigmatic and wealthy man on the island. And when Alistair returns, the pull of the past could prove impossible to resist…
The Girls of Summer flips the concept of “the one that got away” on its head. Interrogating what it means when we are forced to reframe a narrative that is so central to who we are that we aren’t sure who to be when it turns out to be false.
Ultimately, it questions whether it is better to face up to this truth, and all the pain that comes with it, or to keep it hidden in the dark?
‘Thought-provoking, timely and gripping, The Girls of Summer is the book of the summer’ SARAH TURNER, bestselling author of THE UNMUMSY MUM
‘Smart, tense and on-the-nose about shame and coercion and the way we force our own painful histories into a narrative we can live with.’ TAMMY COHEN
‘Engrossingly dark ... it simmers with the seductive power of first love against a backdrop of truths too horrible to confront. This is a powerful story of exploitation and retribution; I loved it’
LOUISA REID, author of THE POET
KATIE BISHOP is a writer and journalist based in Birmingham, UK. She grew up in the Midlands before moving to Oxford to work in publishing in her early twenties. Whilst working as an assistant editor she started writing articles in her spare time, going on to be published in the New York Times, Guardian, Independent and Vogue.
Katie started writing The Girls of Summer during the first UK COVID lockdown, after becoming increasingly interested in stories emerging from the #MeToo movement. The novel is inspired by her own experiences of backpacking, and by her interest in how personal narratives can be reshaped and understood in light of cultural and social changes.
In 2020, Katie moved back to the Midlands, and now lives in Birmingham with her partner. She is a full-time writer.
Katie says: “My novel explores themes of consent, power, and memorythrough the story of a woman reliving a memorable summer in her late teens. Through her emerging memories the novel explores abuse and victimhood, and how victims can rewrite narratives of trauma.
I was initially thinking about writing a book that encapsulated some of the nostalgia and excitement of ‘the one that got away’, but at a time when the #MeToo movement was evolving quite rapidly I started to reflect on my own past relationships differently.
Myself (and a lot of women that I spoke to) were starting to understand their formative relationships and sexual experiences in a different light. I started to think about how I could use the idea of ‘the one that got away’ to explore this reckoning, and how it feels to realise that a relationship that profoundly impacted you could be interpreted in a different light.
The Girls of Summer is a book for every woman. One of the things that I have found most interesting about bringing The Girls of Summer into the world has been the conversations that I’ve had along the way. Almost every woman that I talk to about the book has their own story, their own personal reckoning. An experience they are reminded of that, as an adult, they have had to make peace with.
The #MeToo movement bought about solidarity and empowerment, but it also opened up vast wells of trauma, shame and pain. We have all seen women coming together to shoulder this burden, and to help each other through this. I hope that The Girls of Summer reflects both the horror and the hope of this collective experience.”
Katie Bishop is available for interviews, written pieces, and events.
For more information, please contact Milly Reid or Hana Sparkes
mreid1@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk | 07425677221 | @MillsReid11
hsparkes@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk | 07825 858 420 | @hanasparkes
