Summer Hours: A vivid story of youth, desire and obsession

Alessandra Thom’s Summer Hours follows Roisin through one sweltering Edinburgh summer as she avoids work, cancels plans and drinks lukewarm wine in the bath with her best friend, Eve. Roisin is hopelessly in love with her, but seems incapable of admitting what she wants or moving beyond the stagnant life they share.

When their wealthy friend Claire offers Roisin suspiciously well-paid freelance work, the arrangement quickly becomes more personal and complicated than expected. I found Roisin frustrating, impulsive and painfully believable, particularly as money and class leave her vulnerable to someone with far more power.

Short, intimate and filled with dry humour, this is a wonderfully messy novel about desire, unequal friendships and that uncertain period when everyone else appears to be moving forward. Edinburgh feels hot, close and restless, perfectly reflecting Roisin’s growing sense of entrapment.