The Last Weekend of the Summer - Hardcover

Murphy, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1611882575 ISBN 13: 9781611882575

Verlag: STORY PLANT, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

They have been coming to their grandmother Gloria's lake cottage since they were babies. Now Johnnie and Buddy have families of their own and C.C. has a life full of adult drama and adventure. And this trip – the only stated purpose of which is to bring the family together for the last weekend of the summer – seems full of portent. Gloria has been hinting that there's more on the agenda than grilling and swimming, and when the three siblings learn that their estranged father will also be in attendance, it becomes clear that this weekend will have implications that last far beyond the final days of the season.

A touching, incisive view into the dynamics of a family on the verge of change and filled with characters both distinctive and utterly relatable, THE LAST WEEKEND OF THE SUMMER is a rich, lyrical reading experience that will resonate in your heart.

PRAISE FOR PETER MURPHY:

“The best books are not forgotten because you can never stop thinking beyond the story. This is true of Lagan Love. Murphy is a natural storyteller. I look forward to reading more.”
– Examiner.com on Lagan Love

“Peter Murphy spins an exciting story of romance and the problems with it, making Lagan Love a unique novel with plenty of twists and turns underneath it all.”
– Midwest Book Review on Lagan Love

"Murphy has created a lasting story with great potential in future installments.” – Savvy Verse and Wit on Born & Bred

“Engrossing and significant.... A moral book and a worthy read!”
– Brendan Landers on Wandering in Exile

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Raised in Dublin, the city of songs and stories, Peter Murphy grew up on books and music. As a young man he spent time trekking around Europe before moving to Canada where, after a few years battling some personal demons, he fell in love and raised a family.

When his children reached adulthood and, having written four novels (Lagan Love, Born & Bred, Wandering in Exile, and All Roads), Murphy packed up his life and moved back to Europe with his loving wife and faithful dog.

He now lives in Lisbon where he plans to study the lugubriousness of love. 

Raised in Dublin, the city of songs and stories, Peter Murphy grew up on books and music. As a young man he spent time trekking around Europe before moving to Canada where, after a few years battling some personal demons, he fell in love and raised a family.

When his children reached adulthood and, having written four novels (Lagan Love, Born & Bred, Wandering in Exile, and All Roads), Murphy packed up his life and moved back to Europe with his loving wife and faithful dog.

He now lives in Lisbon where he plans to study the lugubriousness of love. 

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The Last Weekend of the Summer

By Peter Murphy

Studio Digital CT, LLC

Copyright © 2018 Peter Damien Murphy
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-61188-257-5

CHAPTER 1

Gloria had taken her nap early so she would be well-rested when they all arrived. Sleeping in the afternoon had once seemed such an indulgence, but she knew herself now and how easily she could be worn down. She was eighty-two years old and was grudgingly accepting the growing limitations that came with that.

She sat by the dock and took another hit from her pipe. She smiled her old smile: she would defy her age and get up and spend what energy she could muster with her great-grandchildren. Being with them allowed her to glimpse what it was like to be young again, especially when she was with Susie. She was more like Gloria than all the others. She loved the boys, too: Joey and Dwayne, and little Brad, who always struggled to keep up, but Susie was her favorite.

Gloria exhaled slowly, breathing out some of the little knots that had formed inside of her. Family was the ultimate Gordian knot, and she needed to be in the correct frame of mind.

She had started smoking weed for her glaucoma and was pleasantly surprised by how good it always made her feel. Her doctor had cautioned her about it being a gateway, but as far as Gloria was concerned, there were far bigger problems in the world. She had another few hits and rose to put her pipe away where prying eyes wouldn't find it. Her grandkids, Johnnie, Buddy, and C.C., were okay with her doing it, but their mother, Mary ... she was another story. And the reason for so many of the knots.

Mary was going to be difficult, and there was very little Gloria would be able to do but try to redirect her for as long as possible. There was a sad predictability about Mary and had been since Jake first brought her home to meet his parents. Gloria had done what she could to make the young woman feel welcome, but Mary had always been rather self-absorbed and very prone to bouts of self-indulgence. And she had never been at ease around Harry on account of his blindness; she often complained to Jake that his father's vacant, empty stare made her feel uncomfortable.

Harry had lost his sight when his bomber was shot up during the war. Thankfully, the pilot had held it together until they made it back across the Channel, saving Harry and what was left of the crew. Still, Harry had to spend almost a year in a hospital in England, and after many months of recuperation back in Canada was deemed fit enough to go out and find his way through the world again.

Like so many of the others who had fought in that war, Harry wanted to seem upbeat and always said that despite losing his sight, and a part of his face, he was one of the luckier ones. He was terribly disfigured, but people didn't concern themselves so much with things like that back then.

Gloria had met him the last time Bert Niosi played the Palais Royale. He had walked right up to her — with the help of her brother — and asked if she could lead. He always enjoyed telling that story, and Gloria had always laughed along with him. She understood: it was one of the ways he reassured himself that he was still able to cope with the world.

After he settled back into civilian life, Harry worked for his father until the old man died, and then Harry took over. He always said that, even blind, he could see far more than his father, and when the time was right, sold the business for a very good price. He sold up their house in North Toronto too and moved Gloria and all her paints and easels into the palatial cottage that had been in his family for years.

Painting was one of the few parts of a much younger Gloria that had survived. Back when she was in her twenties, she had notions of a more bohemian lifestyle: of wearing pants and smoking cigarettes, but convention, and conformity, had shaped her and changed her — at least as far as the world was concerned.

Initially, her parents had mixed feelings about Harry. They were glad that Gloria had found someone, and they were obliged to consider all that he had sacrificed for the common good, but they were concerned that he and Gloria would find it difficult to lead a normal, happy life. Harry and Gloria had scoffed at that and had lived a life full of small eccentricities: small, but enough to reassure them that they would never become like their parents.

The war had changed Harry, and while he always behaved like it hadn't, he was not afraid to share his views with Gloria in private. He said that the war had proven that the people of the world were sheep-like and easily controlled, and that he and Gloria were duty-bound to live to the full extent of the freedoms he, and so many others, had fought for.

That was why he had always supported her painting, and when she had finished a new one, he would touch it as she described all that he could never see. It was a bit odd, but most of life with a blind man was. He was particularly curious as to the colors she had used. That was the one thing he said he missed — colors, particularly at sunset.

When they first got together they had made a vow to never let his sightlessness become an issue, so every fine evening they would sit on the dock and Gloria would describe everything as the light changed. He would smile his odd little smile that was part-wistful and part-defiant. He always said that he savored every moment of it.

For the most part, Gloria had been happy with him, but their last few years were by far the best. They had grown to really know and love each other by then and had learned to ignore the last of each other's shortcomings — the few they hadn't been able to outgrow. The only clouds on their horizon were the ones that blew in from their son's troubled life.

When it was time for Harry to die, he insisted that he would do it on the dock, listening to the soft lap of the lake, the whisperings among the trees, and the lonesome call of the loons. For a few days Gloria had wrapped him in blankets and sat with him as the sun settled just beyond the other shore. They rarely spoke — they didn't have to — and when he drew his last breath, she kissed him and closed his eyes.

Gloria still remembered every detail like it was one of her paintings. She didn't move for a while and just sat holding his hand as it grew colder and colder. Then, when all that he had been was gone, she rose and phoned Jake.

He had reacted poorly and, in the anger of his grief, berated Gloria for not telling him sooner. He would have liked to have known and would have made the trip, if only to say goodbye. Harry hadn't wanted that. Over the previous few years he and Jake had become totally estranged, and Harry wanted to die without any more acrimony — alone with his wife and dancing partner who had led him through the best years of his life. But after he was gone, Gloria grew to understand Jake's rancour and resentment.

She had the chance to make up for that now. She was bringing them all together to try to resolve some old issues while she still could — and it might be just the thing to help Mary find some peace with all that had happened to her along the way.

Gloria smiled to herself as she wrapped her pipe and put it in the old tin box she had kept for years. She placed it beneath the loose board at the shore end of the dock and walked slowly back towards her home.

* * *

"Who's dying?"

Johnnie glanced at the rear-view mirror and had to smile. Susie had looked up from her phone and had removed one of her earphones. They'd been crawling along in highway...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: STORY PLANT
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1611882575
• ISBN 13: 9781611882575
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar