Farewell Summer

by Helen Hooven Santmyer

A woman returns to the small Ohio town where she grew up only to be haunted by the memory of her childhood love for an older cousin

Genres: Fiction

230 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1988

About the author

Helen Hooven Santmyer was born in 1895 and lived in Xenia, Ohio. In addition to her career as a writer, she worked as an English professor, a dean of women, and a librarian. She was 87 when her novel "And Ladies of the Club" was published as a Book of the Month, and passed away at the age of 90 in February of 1986. She was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1996

Reviews

[Karyl · Rating 2 out of 5]

As always, Helen Hooven Santmyer weaves a beautiful, lyrical world of bygone days, and does an excellent job of it. However, I felt like this book had very little plot. It's the story of Steve and Damaris, as told by their cousin Libby, but it was hard to relate to either of them, especially to Damaris being ostracized in the town and even her family because of her Catholicism. It was also very difficult to keep track the various people mentioned in the novel, and how they were related to one another. The novel is an extremely quick read, but I have to say I wouldn't recommend it.

[Gerhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helen Hooven Santmyer's novel is written from the perspective of forty one year-old Elizabeth Lane who in the spring of 1935 returns to the little Ohio town of Sunbury after years of studying and teaching. Her recollection of the summers spent as a child in her grandparents' house has as backdrop the related Berkalow and Van Doren families and centers on the summer of 1905, when she was a child of eleven and witnessed the start of the ill-fated liaison between Steven Van Doren and Damaris Berkalow.

Elizabeth feels compelled to write the story of the summer of 1905 and her own part in the unfolding of events.

Although the relationship between Steven and Damaris forms the backbone of the story, other elements are brought into play to flesh out this premise. There is the long-standing feud between cousins John Berkalow (grandfather to Damaris) and Cond Van Doren (father of Steven), stemming from an incident dating back to the closing stages of the Civil War and as such a possible stumbling block to the couple's chance of a meaningful relationship. Another plot point concerns the shame of an illicit relationship kept secret until the shrewd observing eye of Elizabeth's manages to ferret out the truth. In addition to all this, the author touches on the religious differences between Presbyterians and Catholics.

Hooven Santmyer's novel is something of a minor prose poem of small town life and the lingering effects of a tragedy long lost in time. Her setting is authentically rendered, from vivid descriptions of maple-lined streets to the carefree Fourth of July celebrations of a bygone age.

[Dottie · Rating 3 out of 5]

See review of Herbs and Apples by Santmyer. DITTO.

[Vel Veeter]

I already only thought this little novel was ok headed into the last few short chapters. But then something frustrating happened to me as I read it. It became increasing clear that this novel was a rehash (even if unwittingly) of a novel I love and think is supremely good: LP Hartley’s The Go-Between. So maybe this one didn’t actually need to be pulled out of Santmyer’s leftover documents and papers, because not only is the story in this novel almost exactly the same as that previous novel, which is much more famous and better, that novel had a lot more to say.

The story here is that an adult is looking back at her childhood by visiting her hometown and doing family research. As she goes back for the summer, she remembers the deeply tragic and galvanizing story of her tenth (or so) summer when she was embroiled in the love affair between her older cousin and a farmhand. As the younger tag along, she acted as both mascot, excuse to see each other, and dare I say it — Go-Between of the young, but doomed lover.

Santmyer has a strange place in American fiction, and a strange career to boot. She was born in the 1890s, and is most famous by far for her mid80s bestseller And the Ladies of the Club which clocks in at 1200 pages (and is more or less like a series of novels, than one complete one). But she also previously published two novels in the 1920s in her 30s, one in the 60s, in her 60s, and this the magnum opus right around the time of her death.

So this previously written, but unpublished novella was one more go at things for her literary estate. Anyway, you should go read LP Hartley’s The Go-Between, which is fantastic, and already has a derivative novel based on it: Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a comment that this book had no plot. It did not, but how does one plot a memory? I believe it was the memory of a young girl's first observation of a love developing between two young people. You may find it touches your heart and jogs your own memories of loves sweet and sometimes painful impact upon our lives.

[Rita Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I had read and greatly enjoyed "And Ladies of the Club" some years ago. This novella is very slow moving and has way too many interrelated characters, but really captures the feel of an earlier time. A nice short read. The drawings at the beginning of each chapter are wonderful; they add a lot.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just read this book for the second time and didn't even realize that I had read it ten years ago. Must not have left an impression. However, Santmyer's "And Ladies of the Club..." is one I never will forget.