GUARDIAN: "There’s an appalling, slow-motion car crash inevitability to this concise and beautifully written novel, not only about the disastrous consequences of Manuel’s idée fixe, but also about the identity of the real father and the guilt and shame that follow."
THE TIMES (London): "Summer of Reckoning is a powerful portrait of disaffected youth, stunted lives and insidious racism. It portrays a Provence that few tourists glimpse and will have its expats wondering just what lies beneath the swimming pool. Marion Brunet reminds us that noir is a French word; that “life’s not like a fairytale for silly girls. Life
hurts.” This is the first of her award-winning books to be translated into English. More, please, au plus vite!"
“With raw, chilling and incisive prose, Brunet takes us into a world of
sectarian convictions dominated by the hatred of the rich, the bosses, the
foreigners and the ‘different’.” --L’Express
“With its intense rage, corrosive boredom and low-life scams, Brunet’s
South of France is saturated with broken dreams. And the last flickers of
childhood are terrifying, proving that, even under the strong sun, social
barriers remain implacable.”--Paris Match
“A story that is dark and luminous at the same time, dark following the
slow unravelling of the crime story affecting Celine, and luminous in Joe’s
conviction that she will escape this sinister world. A novel that leaves
you heart-stricken and seduced.”--Le Monde
“Dramatic tension is evident from the very beginning of this fierce and
dark novel, well served by terse, direct and brilliant prose. The
characters are strong, seemingly right beside us, nervous, anxious,
overworked, and perspiring under the southern sun.” -- Le Temps
“Impresses with its mastery of rhythm and atmospheres, its acute powers of
observation and the power of its writing, fierce, physical, and intense.”- Telerama
