A shower of summer days [Import] [Unknown Binding]

May Sarton (Author)

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 191 pages
• Publisher: Hutchinson (1954)
• ASIN: B0000CIXA4
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

More About the Author

May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 - July 16, 1995), an American poet, novelist, and memoirist. Her parents were science historian George Sarton and his wife, the English artist Mabel Eleanor Elwes. In 1915, her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. She went to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started theatre lessons in her late teens. In 1945 she met her partner for the next thirteen years, Judy Matlack, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They separated in 1956, when Sarton's father died and Sarton moved to Nelson, New Hampshire. Honey in the Hive (1988) is about their relationship. Sarton later moved to York, Maine. She died of breast cancer on July 16, 1995. She is buried in Nelson, New Hampshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A monumental indifference to everything outside the demsne, May 20, 2005

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Shower of Summer Days: A Novel (Paperback)

Violet Dene Gordon inherited Dene's Court in Ireland. It was a grand house. The family always arrived in the rain, Violet thought. The servant, Annie, noted that Violet's husband Charles did not show his age and Violet did. Charles and Violet were not alltogether comfortable with each other.

Charles was a good observer. He was able to reconstruct some of the history. A ballroom had been designed but had not been completed because the money gave out. Violet's grandfather had been efficient. Charles was an enthusiast. He had learned the language in Burma. He knew about village customs. It seemed that Charles used excuses to get away and go and talk with the men at the pub. Annie knew how to cheer up Violet.

Notably, an American niece, Sally, comes to stay with the couple. She is sent to Ireland by her parents because she has become involved with an actor, Ian, whom the parents believe is misleading her into hoping for a marriage. Sally believes that Violet and Charles are still in love. She watches them. At Vassar Sally had revolted against a sense of responsibility being imposed upon her. She tries to resist the influence of Violet and Annie and their attempts to become close to her.

Later in the summer, Ian, through curiousity, attempts a visit. The visit is not a success. The couple parts.

The book was inspired by the circumstances of Elizabeth Bowen I learned from reading another book by May Sarton. This is a psychological story of considerable interest. The atmosphere of Ireland is very well done.

4.0 out of 5 stars People like shadows, house like a rock!, September 14, 2010

By 

Judith Paley (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Shower of Summer Days: A Novel (Paperback)

Not my favorite May Sarton novel by any means, but, by virtue of Ms. Sarton's extraordinary grasp of human nature, a remarkable read nevertheless.

Time passes slowly at Dene's Court, but even as we watch rain drip and roses droop, we are uncomfortably aware of the undercurrents of human interaction therein. The characters, who apparently have no life, read, misread, and over-read, that which passes between them both verbal and non-.

Curiously, the fourth character--and a substantial one at that--is the house in which all this angst takes place. Solid if somewhat mildewed and more than a little gloomy, the manor itself provides an anchor and stability that even the peanut gallery of venerable relatives hanging in portraiture on its walls cannot. Sally grows up, Violet and Charles grow old, and Ian remains excluded and clueless.

Interesting. I enjoyed it but rate it at four stars with an uncertain shrug.