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A Song for Summer

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 3,235 ratings · 313 reviews

Ellen never expected the Hallendorf school to be quite so unusual. Her life back in England with her suffragette mother and liberated aunts certainly couldn't be called normal, but buried deep in the beautiful Austrian countryside, Ellen discovers an eccentric world occupied by wild children and even wilder teachers, experimental dancers and a tortoise on wheels. And then...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published May 10th 2007 by Speak (first published September 7th 1997)

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Sep 07, 2007 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: youngadult

Having now read two of Ibbotson's teen romances, I am beginning to see a trend. Both have featured angelic young women who coo over babies and frolic in meadows and have no personality whatsoever. These young women fall in love with great guys: tough, handsome, intelligent, whom they barely know. Lovely.

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Feb 21, 2009 Chelsea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Chelsea by: Jen

Shelves: historicalfiction, own, romance, recced, youngadult, 2009

I was underwhelmed by this one, especially after how much I enjoyed A Company of Swans. I found Ellen's "thing" (the oft-underrated domestic arts) far less interesting than Harriet's (ballet!). I found it odd that the romance seemed to be relatively unimportant to the story until the very end, when it became the only part of the story.

And what a cop out that was, too. The drama and conflict felt so manufactured, which is ridiculous - there was a perfectly good way to have realistic drama through...more

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May 05, 2010 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

I'm in the process of devouring each of Eva Ibbotson's books for young girls and while I enjoy much of the process I leave each book feeling a little flat.
I thought at first that this book would be an exception to that trend. Her heroine's all fit a comfortable mold of being not all that interesting, having one hobby that consumes their time and talents (i.e. ballet, opera, etc.) being weak in the personality department, and yet inexplicably loved by all creatures they come across. The love int...more

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Mar 18, 2008 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: belovedbookshelf, ya

Set in Austria and London just before and during World War II, A Song for Summer follows a young woman named Ellen Carr who takes a job as a housekeeper at an unusual private school in the Austrian Alps. I knew this book and I would get on when Ellen first arrived at Schloss Hallendorf to find a tortoise on wheels speeding across the lawn.

Soon after the well-equipped tortoise, Ellen encounters Professor Chomsky who teaches metalwork and swims naked in the lake at all hours, Professor Ritter who...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Jazz rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm giving A Song for Summer a 3.5 rating. Ihadn't expected to chance across it after having read about a third of the way two years ago then put it back down. I am glad that I did pick it back up now though, because I understand the most part of it.

I could not really sympathise with Marek, since I didn't like his background story of having had an affair with an older woman. I just do not believe in physical affairs no matter for what reason. It just seems so degrading. I sympathised with Elle...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you have read any of my previous reviews of books by Eva Ibbotson, you already more or less know the plot: The protagonist is a young, beautiful girl who is well-born but eschews her status as part of her love and appreciation for the little joys in life, including domesticity, nature, and rewards reaped from kindness. She is loved by all, including the surly, the old, the young, the birds and the bees. Along comes a princely type who falls for her goodness and simplicity as well as her beaut...more

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Jan 05, 2012 Britain rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: pg-13-reads

This book was the most morally wonky of Ibbotson's books that I have read so far. There are several married couples that cheat on one another toward the end (including the heroine) the Russian ballerina is just vulgar, and the children in the book are shipped off to an anarchy-driven school by disinterested parents. Think hippies and free love... that is how the environment feels when the innocent main character first arrives at the school. It is really unfortunate to watch this twisted morality...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Alex Baugh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: world-war-2

The choice for the third week of the German Literature Month challenge was to pick an Austrian or Swiss writer to read. So I chose A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson. Most people think that Eva Ibbotson is a British novelist and she was. But she is also an Austrian novelist, and though she left Vienna in the early 1930s because of Hitler and the Nazis, her love for Austria is almost always evident in her novels.

A Song for Summer is no exception. Londoner Ellen Carr has been raised by her mother a...more The choice for the third week of the German Literature Month challenge was to pick an Austrian or Swiss writer to read. So I chose A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson. Most people think that Eva Ibbotson is a British novelist and she was. But she is also an Austrian novelist, and though she left Vienna in the early 1930s because of Hitler and the Nazis, her love for Austria is almost always evident in her novels.

A Song for Summer is no exception. Londoner Ellen Carr has been raised by her mother and two aunts, all intellectuals and suffragettes, who desired Ellen to follow in their footsteps. But Ellen’s heart lies outside academics; she is much more attracted to the domestic sciences. So, after graduating from the Lucy Hatton School of Cookery and Household Management, Ellen takes a job as matron in a rather unconventional boarding school in Halllendorf, Austria.

The school is completely at sixes and sevens, but within a week Ellen has set it to rights. And because this is an Ibbotson story, all the characters, teachers and students, are extraordinarily eccentric, who succumb to Ellen’s ministrations without sacrificing any of their personality. And Ellen finds that she herself is attracted to the quiet, mysterious gardener, Marek Tarnowsky.

But Marek, it turns out, had more than one secret. For one, he is a resistance worker. He and his friend Professor Steiner drive around in Steiner’s van to various countries rescuing Jews and smuggling them to safety, doing this under the guise of collecting folk songs from these places. Marek has been searching for another old friend, Isaac Meierwitz, a Jewish music conductor who had been put into a concentration camp and had managed to escape. When a rescue is finally attempted, it ends in two gunshots. Each man believes the other has been shot. Meierwitz wanders for hours looking for Steiner’s van, but ultimately, after days of walking and hiding, he makes his way to the school, finding succor there – Ellen hides him in plain sight by pretending he is her new chef apprentice.
Marek’s other secret is that he is a world famous composer, pursued by an aging, jealous, possessive soprano, Brigitta Seefeld, with whom he had once had an affair. But Marek has now decided to live in America, causing heartbreak in both Ellen and Brigitta. If the road to true love is rocky, for Ellen Carr the road is strewn with boulders and Nazis.
Whenever I read an Ibbotson novel I feel as though I have entered not a fantasy world, but a parallel universe. A Song for Summer is not exactly conventional historical fiction. Yes, the threat of Nazism hangs over Europe and she acknowledges this repeatedly, but the school in Hallendorf seems to be devoid of any kind of direct Nazi threat, as there was in The Dragonfly Pool, and though there certainly were Austrians who supported Hitler early on, they did not live near Hallendorf. One would at least expect some representative of the Reich to be throwing his weight around, even though the majority of this novel is played out prior the Austria’s annexation to Nazi Germany (the very short Part II is set during the war and the even shorter Epilogue is in 1945, just after the war’s end.)

I have always enjoyed Ibbotson’s unconventional cast of characters and A Song for Summer doesn’t disappoint on that score. And I have also always enjoyed the way Ibbotson plays around with opposites in her characters – such as the soul sucking behavior of renowned singer Brigitta Seefeld, the shy, weak Kendrick Frobisher’s pretentiousness, the untalented FitzAllen stealing a Brecht property to gain fame, and the self-important behavior of people who think they are better than others when they clearly are not. Ibbotson’s portrayal of these characters is totally spot on.

A Song for Summer is a wonderful historical romance novel, something I seldom read, but enjoyed thoroughly. It was originally written in 1997 and marketed as an adult novel, but was recently reissued as a Young Adult book. And I believe it is a novel that won’t disappoint adult or YA readers.

This book is recommended for readers 12 and up
This book was purchased for my personal library

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May 19, 2011 Gatorgal21 rated it 4 of 5 stars

When Ellen was born, her sturdy suffragist family was convinced she would fit right in, besides her beauty of course. They were convinced she would grow out of it eventually anyways. But she didn’t. She didn’t grow out of much of anything actually. Instead of reading or studying or protesting, Ellen liked to cook, and garden, and sew, anything domestic really. And so, to fulfill a Grandmother’s dying wish, Ellen heads to Austria after college to take up a post as a housemother at the strangest a...more

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Feb 27, 2011 Corinne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

It's been a LONG time since I read a book that made me forgo all other plans and curl up in my bed until the last page was turned. I love when I have to do that.

What is a Song for Summer? It's a romance, pure and simple - but a romance that begins in the most tumultuous of times in a place on the brink of war. Hitler is already stirring and making life difficult in Germany when Ellen arrives in a picturesque village in Austria. The run-down boarding school where she's taken a position is the lea...more It's been a LONG time since I read a book that made me forgo all other plans and curl up in my bed until the last page was turned. I love when I have to do that.

What is a Song for Summer? It's a romance, pure and simple - but a romance that begins in the most tumultuous of times in a place on the brink of war. Hitler is already stirring and making life difficult in Germany when Ellen arrives in a picturesque village in Austria. The run-down boarding school where she's taken a position is the least likely place to find love, which is fine for Ellen, who has so much more on her mind than finding a man to marry. However, when the fallout of a war's beginning touches Ellen's life, she does not shirk and we follow Ellen's story throughout Europe as the love that we know she's found works itself out amidst the uncertainty of the Third Reich's advance.

I just don't want to spoil any of the rest of the plot. It's too good, even if it took a detour that caught me completely by surprise and I had to work my way back into the story. Let me just say there are opera divas and storks, musicians and rescues, and one of my favorite scenes of community togetherness that I've ever read. Ibbotson's writing is so, for lack of a better word, RIGHT for this story, it felt real and poignant without being sentimental. While perhaps TOO good, I loved believing in Ellen's goodness, her appreciation for well cooked meals and children who are taken care of. So many things that interest me were tied into this book that while perhaps some of the characters seemed slightly one-dimensional, I just loved the story so much that I didn't care in the slightest.

One thing that this book made me think of was the strength of the British when under attack during the war - and about those ordinary people in mainland Europe who would go to such efforts to save even one person from death. I just like reading about people who will stand up and do the right thing even when the odds are absolutely stacked against you. So there was love AND all that other good stuff. What more could I ask for than that?(less)

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Jan 27, 2011 ella-b-ella rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I was young I adored Eva Ibbotson's stories. And I enjoyed A Song For Summer too. Ok it had a few problems. I felt Eva had committed the ultimate authors crime by getting attached to her characters. It was look she planned them having unfortunate endings and then at the last minute just couldn't bare anything bad to happen to them, hence the many coincidental meetings.
Also lot of the plot is a cliche i.e. beautiful boy falls for gorgeous girl, can't be together and she takes us on a roller...more

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Jul 02, 2010 Erica rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm going to have to go ahead and call this book flat out silly. I picked it up because I had read Ibbotson's A Countess Below Stairs some years ago and vaguely seem to remember having liked it. It can't have been this bad else I'd have remembered, I'm convinced.

The heroine is Ellen, the domestic goddess who loves cooking and hugging babies and is beautiful beyond compare. The hero is Marek, the dashing gardener and fencing teacher who is also a member of the Resistance and a very famous compose...more

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Nov 07, 2009 Jan rated it 3 of 5 stars

In Austria, Hitler's Reich is rising in power, and there are hints of war. Ellen's family is pleased when she gets a job in an unconventional boarding school, safely isolated in the beautiful Austrian countryside.

Once ensconced at the school, Ellen falls in love with the land, the children and the school, with all its eccentricities. But the one who captures her heart is the elusive Marek, part time handyman and beloved adviser to the children. Marek's alternate rejection of and attraction to El...more

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May 12, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love all novels that attest to music's incomparable power, and A Song for Summer does so brilliantly. The story's heroine, young Ellen, relocates from England to Austria, partly to escape the expectations of her suffragette mother and aunts. She lands a job as matron at an eccentric arts school, where she's allowed to bask in her favorite activities, namely cooking, observing nature, and lovingly tending to the school's largely dysfunctional student body and staff. Ellen's life soon becomes en...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have read The Secret Countess, The Morning Gift, Journey To The River Sea, The Star Of Kazan, I have yet to read A company of Songs and Magic Flutes but I have reserved them at my local library. I loved all these books, my least favourite so far would have to be the Morning Gift but my favourite is definitely A Song For Summer closely followed by The Secret Countess.

This is one of the books I will pick up again and again to read because each time I read it I discover a new hidden story. I love...more

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Oct 16, 2009 Lauren rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-young-adult

I was so glad to have finished this book! I kept reading in hopes that the story would get better or the characters would evolve and none of this ever happened.

There was a total lack of character development-everyone was very one-dimensional and the order that their individual stories was revealed did not make any sense. Grammer was attrocious! Pronouns were not referring back to the correct character and so many paragraphs would make no sense without first deciphering who was talking or being t...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Aryn rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-by-parentals, fiction, young-adult, historical, romance

If you ever get a chance to read A Song for Summer, for Godssake run away.

I haven't had such a visceral negative reaction to a heroine since Twilight. I picture her something like this:

"My name is Ellen I was raised by eccentric, rich, and intelligent Aunts in London. They wanted me to go to school for intellectual pursuits, but all I wanted to do was follow Grandpa's housekeeper around! I want to be a housekeeper when I grow up and go work at a school with unruly, Godless children who need to l...more

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May 20, 2012 Hannah Ward rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who loves romance, history, or music

Recommended to Hannah by: School

Shelves: favorites, romance, historical, so-sad

Oh. My. Freaking. God. How on earth did Eva Ibbotson become such a beautiful and poignant author? A Song for Summer is the story of Ellen, who comes from a very intellectual family of suffragettes. Her mother and aunts want her to be a university professor or a doctor or a politician. Ellen could easily be any of these things, but all she wants to do is cook beautiful food and help children. When she is offered a position as a matron at the Hallendorf School of Music, she is ecstatic and travels...more

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Sep 14, 2011 AlixJamie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I guess I'm losing hope in Eva Ibbotson. Her books are hopelessly YA fiction. High-end YA fiction, but still lumped in the category.
And what have I come to expect of YA fiction?
Absolutely no redeeming value, episodes of teenagers or young adults with no self-control or morals that they abandon with a disheartening lack of regret or hesitation, language, flighty heroines and perfect heroes who are really nothing but fluff under the skin. That's what I expect.

Unfortunately, that's what I get.

Mar...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

I feel like 3 stars was probably generous. The characters were often fairly flat, as was the plot. Most of the action and/or excitement of the book was pretty much just skipped over. You get to an exciting or gripping part and the chapter ends. When you flip the page to the next chapter you find the action is all ready over with, and you ever so slowly find out bit and pieces of what took place, but not the whole story. This was frustrating to say the least.
Also, in all creative writing classes...more

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Feb 02, 2010 Dlora rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sarah the WWII history nut

Shelves: romance, history

I really enjoyed this book set in Austria just as Hitler is strengthening his hold on Germany, persecutinge the Jews, and agressively grabbing land in the countries around Germany. Since Eva Ibbotson herself lived in Vienna during this time frame and had to flee from Hitler too, she understands the countryside and the events and fears of that time period. The story revolves around young English Ellen Carr who loves to cook and clean and make people around her feel comfortable and loved. She's a...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Rebecca- Books rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

This was found hidden behind a pile of books with Meg Rosoff written all over them in my school library. It was in lesson time so it was incredibly quiet in there as I was the only one in there. So I was also the only person to see my little jump of excitement once I saw the words 'Eva Ibbotson' on the book in fancy font. The copy in there had the American cover which I slightly prefer to the English one. But oh well. My love for all things Eva Ibbotson is back with a vengence.

Ellen, an English...more This was found hidden behind a pile of books with Meg Rosoff written all over them in my school library. It was in lesson time so it was incredibly quiet in there as I was the only one in there. So I was also the only person to see my little jump of excitement once I saw the words 'Eva Ibbotson' on the book in fancy font. The copy in there had the American cover which I slightly prefer to the English one. But oh well. My love for all things Eva Ibbotson is back with a vengence.

Ellen, an English eighteen year old just out of school with a Suffragette mother and aunts, starts at Hallendorf, a financally failing school near Vienna, Austria, as a cook/nursemaid. Hallendorf is certainly different with its wild children and eccentric teachers that swim naked in the surrounding lake or pretend to be Russian ballerinas. Then, there's the tortoise on wheels. Hallendorf is quite unusual. Until Ellen discover the intriguing handyman, Marek and is instantly attracted to his kind and mysterious nature. Only once she discovered his true identity and his secret work, does she realise the extend to her love for him. But Hitler's Nazi Germany is already in danger of ruining the peaceful world of Hallendorf and Ellen and Marek must realise their feelings for one another during the events of war before it's too late...

My own synopisis of it. Partly from the blurb. Also, on the blurb, there is the slogan 'A love like no other...' It's definitely a love that faces many barriers throught his 397 page book.
I liked this book. However, at some points, there are parts that are slightly confusing or I didn't understand. For me, I can see how the title relates to the events and a character in the book, but they don't particuarly have anything much to do with Ellen herself. Though, the main events happen in summers. So maybe that was the idea behind it. Also, Ibbotson has a tendiency to mention someone before the reader actually knows who they are. Which is some ways is good as it keeps you reading and wanting to know who they are but I felt it was done more than a couple of times.
Those are my only doubts on this novel. Apart from those that I only thought of ever so often, I loved the storyline. The setting is so original and there are some definite original characters and plot twists in there. Eva Ibbotson, in general, was always surprising me and the plot twists were sometimes so unhinted that it just kind of suddenly happened and has you sitting there slightly shocked. She also does this thing that I LOVE, where she jumps ahead of time to show something completely different in the future and then, goes back as if you're looking into the character's thoughts over what happened.
The historical detail and the detail in general was so great and I could easily imagine that she wanted it to be like. Overall, I could not put this book down and I absolutely loved the characters and the way they are written in so much depth. The romance also relies on fate a lot - which is very different to many other books like this.
I would recommend this to anybody studing WWII before and during, it gives it a lot of detail. And it's nice how it focuses on Austria during WWII, normally it's just Britain or Germany - the main ones. It's nice to see another side to the war.
Anyway, overall, this was an enjoyable, relaxable read which I think most people who love the genre of historical romance will enjoy. Another amazing read by the fabulous Eva Ibbotson who I am gradually falling in love with.

Eva Ibbotson doesn't have a website. However, when I looked her up on Google, I found out she actually in fact died on the 10th October 2010 at the age of 85. Even though she now isn't alive, I really love her books and I think I shall be reading them for years to come. I can't believe I've just discovered them. (less)

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Jan 22, 2012 *tarazza rated it 4 of 5 stars

Compelling, intelligent, and romantic, set against the backdrop of Hitler's Europe, this was a challenging but ultimately satisfying read. Ellen, descendant of liberated and feminist Londonites, becomes the housemother at an Austrian boarding school, where she quickly finds herself embroiled in the lives of everyone around her-- the lonely almost-orphans at the school, the dissatisfied teachers, the wacko ballerina who believes she's Russian, and the mysterious gardener who is actually a famous...more

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Jun 10, 2008 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 28, 2010 Susannah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Susannah by: Me, Myself and I

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Jun 02, 2009 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars

I would give the first 2/3 of this book 5 stars. I absolutely loved the first part. It was so sweet, romantic, enchanting. But it took a disappointing turn and the whole spirit that was carefuly built up was twisted and broken. Yes, it ended up happy, but it wasn't a completely satisfying conclusion and the path there was very hard. Considering that the story takes place during WWII, it is perhaps a commentary on the devastation of the peace and beauty that was Europe before the war, the terribl...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Kimberly rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book is set pre World War II. Eleanor loves nothing but serve everyone around her and although her mother brought her up with all the scholastic knowledge available, she still chooses a life of serving. She decided to serve as a house mother at a boarding school. Her love for the children grow as does her love for the mysterious gardener. But when the gardener is truly an acclaimed musician, Eleanor and the gardener grow even closer.

This book had potential, but the love story could not even...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Abby rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, just-okay, ridiculous-endings

"A Song for Summer," is a book that, ultimately, comes across as plainly enjoyable. It is not a great intellectual account, or even really something that you'd read a second time, for me; but it was enjoyable, and that's about it. I found the narrator, Ellen, to be rather lovely in herself, but while I applaud the late Eva Ibbotson for making a heroine that does not take on traditionally masculine traits (not to say that I don't love those types of characters, I do! but there is a lack of divers...more "A Song for Summer," is a book that, ultimately, comes across as plainly enjoyable. It is not a great intellectual account, or even really something that you'd read a second time, for me; but it was enjoyable, and that's about it. I found the narrator, Ellen, to be rather lovely in herself, but while I applaud the late Eva Ibbotson for making a heroine that does not take on traditionally masculine traits (not to say that I don't love those types of characters, I do! but there is a lack of diversity and it seems to suggest that women can only be Katnisses or etc. but this is a whole other discussion in itself, and I absolutely ADORE Katniss with all of my heart) it doesn't mean she has to be completely devoid of her own aspirations. And while we're at it, I'd like to mention how the first of the book seems to be an outright attack on feminism. It only furthers along the idea that feminists don't like women who like babies, want families, or who enjoy cooking (and I don't like any of those things myself, except perhaps cooking), which is not true. For some feminists, yes, perhaps, but that's not what feminism is about. It's about doing what you want and not having a male, or a partner or anyone of any sort, making you do something, etc. That's true feminism. So I think the book comes across as hugely problematic in the end.

Anyways, onto the book's substance. I think the cast of characters is charming (particularly the children and the teachers), and they made me smile on a regular basis. I'm still not sure how I feel about Marek. Certain actions of his made me really angry, and I think he might've been rather bland himself. He was decently charming, yes, but I don't know...my head is still in circles about him. And I really don't understand his actions after a certain incident in the book; it just seems...weird and it doesn't seem like him, I suppose. I just don't think it was properly written for his character.

The ending seems a little out of place, but I did leave the book feeling happy, though not fulfilled. Sort of empty, I suppose? It just seemed like we had gone through a lot of unhappiness only to have very little of the actual relationship, the depth to it, any of that. It just didn't make much sense as a whole, and I think it was rather convoluted. All in all, the book was all right and reasonably enjoyable, but there were just too many problems, not enough depth to the characters, and a lot of things that made me sort of half dislike this book.

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Jan 02, 2013 Marina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012, historical-fiction, romance

That book had me confused for a while, I thought it was a YA Romance and, well? Despite acknowledging Marek as the love-interest from the beginning, this novel doesn't start being a Romance novel well into the second part of the book. As of the ya genre: what makes this novel a ya novel? I am genuinely asking. I though that the main common element of all ya fiction was that the main characters were ya themselves (and in fact I already had that problem with The Piper's Son, but I agreed to the ya...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While it's supposed to be a love story, I enjoyed the historic aspects. It is set in the time period when Hitler is furthering his territory. The way that the war situation affects the lives of the characters was more interesting to me than the main love story. Of course I wanted certain people to end up together, but that wasn't the only thing I wished for while reading. I wished that Hitler had never been able to do what he did.

I didn't agree morally with certain relationship situations in th...more

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About Eva Ibbotson

Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner, 1925, Vienna, Austria) was a British novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy. Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler came into power, Ibbotson's family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, from which she graduat...more Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner, 1925, Vienna, Austria) was a British novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy. Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler came into power, Ibbotson's family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, from which she graduated with a diploma in education in 1965. Ibbotson had intended to be a physiologist, but was put off by the amount of animal testing that she would have to do. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960's. Ibbotson was widowed with three sons and a daughter.

Ibottson began writing with the television drama Linda Came Today, in 1965. Ten years later, she published her first novel, The Great Ghost Rescue. Ibbotson has written numerous books including The Secret of Platform 13, Journey to the River Sea, Which Witch?, Island of the Aunts, and Dial-a-Ghost. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Journey to the River Sea, and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature. The books are imaginative and humorous, and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite the fact that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. Some of the books, particularly Journey to the River Sea, also reflect Ibbotson's love of nature. Ibbotson wrote this book in honor of her husband (who had died just before she wrote it), a former naturalist. The book had been in her head for years before she actually wrote it. Ibbotson said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Some have been struck by the similarity of "Platform 9 3/4" in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books to Ibbotson's The Secret of Platform 13, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book.

Her love of Austria is evident in works such as The Star Of Kazan and A Song For Summer. These books, set primarily in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for nature and all things natural.

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Quotes from A Song for Summer

“Not a frog, I hope?” he asked…She shook her head. “No. And if it was I wouldn’t kiss it, I promise you. I might kiss a prince if I could be sure he’d turn into a frog, but not the other way around.” — 27 people liked it

“What are you afraid of then?
Not Being able to see, I think not seeing because your obsessed by something that blots out the world.” — 20 people liked it

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title link	preview: A Song for Summer
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/294924.A_Song_for_Summer?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311649251l/294924.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/294924.A_Song_for_Summer?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson[/url]

A Song for Summer

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