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Seven Days in Summer
Seven Days in Summer
Nov 14, 2025 7:36 PM

Author:Marcia Willett,Emma Powell

Seven Days in Summer

Brought to you by Penguin.

Busy mum of twins Liv is looking forward to a week at the Beach Hut in Devon, even if she feels that something's not right between her and Matt. She’s sure he’s just too busy at work to join them on their summer holiday, not that he wants time alone…

Baz loves having his family to stay by the sea, but when an unexpected guest arrives, he finds himself torn between the past and the future…

Still reeling from a break-up, all Sofia wants is a quiet summer – until she meets Baz and her plans are turned upside down. She knows she’s rushing into things, but could this week at the Beach Hut be the start of something new?

And back home, Matt might be missing Liv and the children, but when an old friend appears he finds himself distracted... What does she know about his family’s past that she’s not letting on?

As tensions rise over seven days in summer, the lives of the holidaymakers begin to take an unexpected turn…

Praise for Marcia Willett:

'A beautifully woven tale of families and their secrets...' Liz Fenwick, bestselling author of THE CORNISH HOUSE

'A genuine voice of our times' The Times

'Riveting, moving and utterly feel-good' Daily Mail

'Sweeping powers of description transport her readers to another time and place' Rosanna Ley, bestselling author of THE VILLA

Reviews

Lovely . . . Made me long for a long hot summer by the sea with friends and family. I loved that new beginnings turn up when you least expect them.

—— Jo Thomas, author of The Oyster Catcher

Warm summer reading

—— Choice Magazine

Jose Saramago's brilliant evocation...is magical realism of a sort that stirs real wonder

—— James Park , Time Out

Saramago's lovely and original questing story, in a lineage of others such as Don Quixote and Kipling's Kim, is a journey of the spirit told as a journey of the feet

—— Richard Eder , Los Angeles Times

Tremendous wit is always apparent in his imaginative conceits, comic digression and verbal and narrative games

—— Ian Critchley , Sunday Times

An engaging fantasy...this book can't be pinned down however, either as magic realism, Swiftian satire, or dystopian science fiction: in fact its concerns are largely philosophical... Pontiero's excellent translation preserves the strange, looping rhythms of Jose Saramago's prose, as well as his likeably self-referential humour and, most important of all, the sense of a deep and luminous intelligence which informs the whole enterprise

—— Jonathan Coe , Mail on Sunday

Wry and trenchant . . . highly entertaining.

—— The New York Times Book Review

His funniest book since Breakfast of Champions . . . There are nuggets of Vonnegutian wisdom throughout.

—— Newsweek

Timequake is a novel by, and starring, Kurt Vonnegut . . . What Vonnegut does, which no one can do better, is give a big postmodern shrug . . . You've got to love him.

—— The Washington Post Book World

Humorous, sardonic . . . Timequake makes for irresistible reading that's loaded with more important truths than it lets on . . . Moralizing has never been funnier.

—— Chicago Sun-Times

Vonnegut is at his best.

—— Atlanta Journal & Constitution

MAGICAL, MESMERISING AND INVENTIVE

—— Karen McManus, bestselling author of One of Us is Lying

THE HAZEL WOOD KEPT ME UP ALL NIGHT . . . as I fell completely into the dark and beautiful world within its pages. Terrifying, magical, and surprisingly funny, it's one of the very best books I've read in years

—— Jennifer Niven, bestselling author of All the Bright Places

A WINDING, CREEPY, INSIDIOUSLY DELICIOUS NOVEL. UTTERLY SPECTACULAR - I read it in one sitting

—— Melinda Salisbury, bestselling author of The Sin Eater’s Daughter

THIS BOOK WILL BE YOUR NEXT OBSESSION. Welcome to the Hazel Wood, where bad luck is a living thing, princesses are doomed, and every page contains a wondrously terrible adventure - it's not safe inside these pages, but once you enter, you may never want to leave.

—— Stephanie Garber, Bestselling Author of Caraval

Katz's debut is one that will have readers gripped from the very first words until the last - and a book that will stay with you for a long while afterwards.

—— Her.ie

[A] smart debut, both compelling and disturbing, delivered with the kind of confidence that makes me keen to see what Katz will come up with next.

—— A Life in Books Blog

[G]ripping debut … Here’s a page-turner you’ll devour before the week is out

—— Stylist Daily Newsletter

A razor sharp psychological deconstruction of the motivations, regrets and secrets behind a picture-perfect façade.

—— The Week

White-knuckle ride

—— RTE Guide

I really wanted to just press the book into anyone’s hands and say ‘please read this’! [...] An important read

—— Bookish Chat

Readers hungry for an in-depth study of a man searching for control, power and ownership will find satisfaction in A Good Man. But caveat emptor - this story inevitably hurtles at the end towards a chilling finale

—— Crime Review

This stellar debut from Ani Katz had us gripped from the beginning.

—— That’s Life!
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