Description
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, June 2013: “Like my mother, I deplored all that bored me—unlike her, though, I absolved myself of any obligation to be entertaining. I might as well have been born with a pistol in my hand, firing furiously at the floor, ordering life to dance.” So twelve-year-old Riddle “Jimmy” Camperdown (named after Hoffa) slouches hostilely summerward, cultivating her role of family curmudgeon. It’s 1972. Riddle and her parents stave off boredom in their wind-whipped cliff-top estate on Cape Cod primarily by goading each other (and riding horses). Her father, Camp, relishes the thrill of working himself into a lather about the latest Vietnam atrocity. Greer, her glamorous actor mother--once the “Toast of Hollywood,” now on extended hiatus from stage and screen--simmers and smokes, perfecting lacerating one-liners. Camp remained “inexplicably in thrall to her sleek furies,” mostly about money and their lack. Their clashes get a nastier edge as Camp launches a campaign for a state House seat, and their dashing childhood chum Michael Devlin--who’d served with Camp in WWII as a sniper in Bastogne, and later jilted Greer at the altar--chooses that moment to return to town with two teenage sons and announces plans to make public incriminating details of Camp’s war service. Just as it’s dawning on Riddle that her family runs on secrets, she witnesses an act of shocking violence in a barn and--paralyzed by fear--descends into her own pit of secrecy, even when she realizes she’s the only one who knows why the younger Devlin boy is missing. Gleefully wielding the pyrotechnic wit she first flashed in her debut ( Apologize, Apologize! ), Elizabeth Kelly pushes the family dynamics of modern American aristocrats to near-absurd levels, throwing in a menacing stable hand, gorgeous gypsy horses that drive men mad, and a freaky, faceless doll to fine-tune the tension. In its final reckoning, what could have turned campy culminates with unexpectedly rich gravitas. --Mari Malcolm From Booklist The best-selling author of Apologize, Apologize! (2009) returns with another witty take on a dysfunctional family. In the summer of 1972, 12-year-old Riddle James Camperdown is thoroughly overshadowed by her charismatic parents: her ice-queen beauty of a mother, Greer, a former Hollywood actress who possesses a devastating wit, and her outgoing politician father, Camp, a liberal idealist. While her parents run Camp’s political campaign out of their rambling house on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, Riddle attempts to carve out her own space as a competitive horseback rider. But when she unintentionally witnesses a violent crime, her life is upended. Unable to confide in her parents and deathly afraid of the perpetrator, she seeks refuge in the company of 19-year-old Harry Devlin, the handsome aristocrat next door whose father harbors a secret contempt for Camp and an unrequited love for Greer. Kelly is a very entertaining writer with a digressive style and a way with metaphor, but her plot is not as finely tuned as her prose. Still, many readers will find much to like in this colorful story peopled with larger-than-life personalities. --Joanne Wilkinson "Kelly’s novel is a coming-of-age meets a whodunit… A laugh-out-loud funny page turner." ― Ayana Mathis, New York Times Book Review "The plot unfolds like the Cape Cod season itself… beginning lazily, languidly, before heating up and morphing into a fast-paced thriller." ― Abbe Wright, O Magazine "Kelly’s second novel is a witty, suspenseful tale of murder, marital conflict and agonizing secrets…The exuberant story is transporting and delicious, a worthy summer read." ― Robin Micheli, People Magazine "A wonderful novel is like an orchid: smooth, creamy, full of unexpected crevasses. The more you look at it, the more surprising it is. The Last Summer of the Camperdowns , by Canadian writer Elizabeth Kelly, is like that, giving us characters you’ve never seen before, worlds we never knew, crimes we never thought of. Of course, some of us raise horses for the fun of it and run for Congress and may be bona fide movie stars, but not too many, and as purely escapist literature, The Last Summer works beautifully… Really terrific fiction." ― Carolyn See, Washington Post "Riveting… Riddle perfectly narrates the events of one crazy, harrowing summer against the tumultuous backdrop of the 1970s. Written with cutting wit and intensity; it doesn’t get any better than this." ― Library Journal "Kelly’s new novel is just as scathingly witty as her best-selling debut but better plotted and even more emotionally harrowing… Kelly skillfully builds almost unbearable tension, slipping in plenty of dark laughs en route to a wrenching climax that leaves in its wake some painfully unresolved questions―just like life. More fine work from a writer with a rare gift for blending wit and rue." ― Kirkus Reviews "There was no putting down this book. Elizabeth Kelly’s riveting The Last Summer of the Camperdowns left me breathless." ― Marcy Dermansky, author of Bad Marie "The best-selling author of Apologize! Apologize! (2009) returns with another witty take on a dysfunctional family… Kelly is a very entertaining writer with a digressive style and a way with metaphor …readers will find much to like in this colorful story peopled with larger-than-life personalities." ― Booklist "Kelly’s raucous, deliciously creepy novel about the dysfunction of the über wealthy begins in 1972 as the hoity-toity Camperdown clan prepare for another summer of horseback riding, fox hunting, and hors d’oeuvres in their cushy Cape Cod enclave... Kelly ( Apologize, Apologize! ) builds suspense by withholding the perpetrator’s motivations and the characters’ knowledge of who did it until the end." ― Publishers Weekly "These vibrant personalities jump off the page individually, and the collective dynamic is as lifelike and scintillating as beautifully cast actors in an artfully directed play… the scenes and dialogue unravel organically, and razor-sharp witticisms tumble out effortlessly." ― Redbook " The Last Summer of the Camperdowns is one of the most delightful beach books evah! It is the literary equivalent of a dozen Wellfleet oysters―salty, sweet, sublime." ― Elin Hilderbrand, author of Beautiful Day "Twelve-year-old Riddle James Camperdown witnesses a crime that will change her life and lives of those around her. A story about the family ties, the quest for status, and the secrets that kill." ― Good Housekeeping "[Kelly] takes readers to the Cape of the early 1970s. The narrator, a 12-year-old Wellfleet girl with eccentric ‘Me Decade’ parents―her mother a retired movie star and her father a candidate for Congress―is plunged beneath the surface of the idyllic summer setting when she discovers dark family secrets and witnesses a sinister crime she won’t soon forget." ― Boston Magazine "It’s 1972 on Cape Cod, and 13-year-old Riddle Camperdown feels like she’s in heaven. But her father is running for Congress, and an old friend shows up with a memoir that contains embarrassing details. Then Riddle witnesses a murder." ― Carolyn See, Washington Post "Kelly has a deceptively low-paced writing style that nevertheless delivers a jolt at every turn. Pungent metaphors often collide and occasionally cancel each other out…. She keeps us on the edge without letting us fall into the gothic trap…. This atmospheric summer read will not disappoint readers looking for a great turn of phrase and a mesmerizing story." ― Barbara Clark, The Barnstable Patriot "A novel for the awkward kid in all of us. Thirteen-year-old Riddle Camperdown, with her noisy red hair and retired movie star mother, is on the cusp of her whole life. When Riddle finds herself in possession of a terrible secret, the novel acquires a crackling tension that doesn’t ease until you’ve turned the final page. A pure pleasure read, The Last Summer of the Camperdowns will remind you of sweating glasses of ice tea, fireflies in the backyard, and lost innocence." ― Julie Buntin, Cosmopolitan Elizabeth Kelly is the best-selling author of The Last Summer of the Camperdowns (finalist for the New England Society Book Award) and Apologize, Apologize! .xa0She lives in Merrickville, Ontario, with her husband, five dogs, and three cats. Read more
Features & Highlights
- Cosmopolitan's
- one of “The 22 Best Books of the Year For Women, by Women"
- Washington Post
- Notable Fiction of 2013 Set on Cape Cod during one tumultuous summer, Elizabeth Kelly’s gothic family story will delight readers of
- The Family Fang
- and
- The Giant’s House
- .
- The Last Summer of the Camperdowns
- , from the best-selling author of
- Apologize, Apologize!
- , introduces Riddle James Camperdown, the twelve-year-old daughter of the idealistic Camp and his manicured, razor-sharp wife, Greer. It’s 1972, and Riddle’s father is running for office from the family compound in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Between Camp’s desire to toughen her up and Greer’s demand for glamour, Riddle has her hands full juggling her eccentric parents. When she accidentally witnesses a crime close to home, her confusion and fear keep her silent. As the summer unfolds, the consequences of her silence multiply. Another mysterious and powerful family, the Devlins, slowly emerges as the keepers of astonishing secrets that could shatter the Camperdowns. As an old love triangle, bitter war wounds, and the struggle for status spiral out of control, Riddle can only watch, hoping for the courage to reveal the truth.
- The Last Summer of the Camperdowns
- is poised to become the summer’s uproarious and dramatic must-read.
