When the Summer Was Ours by Roxanne Veletzos

 

Title:  When the Summer Was Ours

Author: Roxanne Veletzos

Narrated by:  Imani Jade Powers & Jacques Roy

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 40 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you! 

 How are you finishing off your summer reading?  Or are you squarely into fall reads?

 When the Summer was Ours is my last “summer” read of 2021.  It takes place in 1943 Hungary.  Eva César spends the summer in the small town of Sopron.  As she tries to get over her mother’s death, she also takes time off of her studies to become a nurse and preparations for her marriage to a young idyllic doctor, Eduard.  While in Sopron, Eva meets Aleandro, a young Romani fiddler and artist.  Eva and Aleandro have an instant chemistry, but war soon invades their lives, and they are separated.  Will they survive the war?

 This was a great historical romance.  I haven’t really read many WWII novels set in Hungary and I loved this aspect of it.  I also enjoyed that the novel showed the war, but also the aftermath of the war and discussed the Hungarian revolution of 1956.  I knew nothing about this revolution, and I was fascinated.  I also liked the story covered the plight of the Romani people and how they were also put into concentration camps. The only part of the novel that confused me was the beginning.  It seemed strange that in 1943 that Eva seemed so far removed from the war with dinner parties and plans for her marriage. 

 I really enjoyed the characters, plot, and love story.  The story shifted between Eva and Aleandro’s narratives as did the narrators on the audiobook.  I liked that.  The narrators were the voices of Eva and Aleandro for me.

 
Overall, When the Summer Was Ours is a great new WWII historical fiction novel with a unique Hungarian setting.