Product Description

School is over for Alex Delaney and he's waiting for his university offer - only seventeen days away. Waiting, waiting, bodysurfing, watching a bit of TV...but mainly waiting. So he's not ready for the girl who cuts past him on a wave. Not at all prepared for her perfect balance on the board, the bare, elegant muscles of her shoulders and back. Summer is about to change...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #685734 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-07
• Binding: Paperback
• 219 pages

Review
A few Australian weeks at the beach hold tension and tender richness as Alex waits to find out his university future. Summer is for ocean swimming and bodysurfing, but introspective Alex worries about whether he's gotten into college. His narrative voice is evocatively descriptive except when it's (suddenly) hilariously funny. He meets a girl who won't reveal her name but leaves a jar of honey in his mailbox; their days together are slow-cooked, for savoring, both to them and to readers. Her offbeat family takes him in and shows him bread baking and nude pottery, equal parts embarrassment and joy for him. His own mother is overly interested, making Alex's balance between boundaries and warmth elusive. He's not easygoing but he's slowly expanding his room for life. A wry and unhurried look at almost-adulthood, complete with issues of sex, sometimes comical (her blustery dad spins a clay penis on the pottery wheel) but never trivialized. Thoughtful; very funny; bittersweet with depth. (Fiction. YA) (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
Nick Earls has been described by The Daily Mirror as "the first Aussie to make me laugh since Jason Donovan." The author of nine books, his work has been published internationally and translated into several languages. After Summer - published in Australia as After January - was his first novel and won its category of the Talking Book of the Year Awards, as well as being included by the International Youth Library in its selection of notable books from around the world. His book 48 Shades of Brown won the 2000 Children's Book Council Book of the Year Older Readers' Award and is currently being developed into a feature film. Nick studied Medicine at the University of Queensland and has worked as a GP among other jobs. He lives in Brisbane and now writes full-time.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and thoughtful coming of age story
"After Summer" should become a classic teenage read. It addresses the limbo between school and university, the waiting time for results, the uncertainty of identity. It is beautifully written, with passages mourning the passing of childhood and celebrating the freedoms of adulthood. Alex is an engaging, self-deprecating narrator who bumps into a girl at the beach. This is the start of a relationship that changes his whole summer and opens up his eyes to what he could do with his life. Earls has an eye for nature and the way people misunderstand one another. He captures Alex's boredom without making him seem pathetic or useless and it is interesting to watch Alex evolve and try to keep up with F, the girl he's met. This should definitely be read by any student waiting for exam results, if only to pass the time.