Rachel Joyce: Sommerhaus

When world-famous artist Vic Kemp unexpectedly summons his four adult children—Netta, Susan, Goose, and Iris—they drop everything to come. Their high hopes turn to shock: Seventy-year-old Vic announces that he is going to marry 27-year-old Bella-Mae. The siblings are stunned.

Shortly afterward, their father is dead. He drowned in a lake he knew better than anyone else. Was it a tragic accident—or is there more to it? The four travel to the family’s summer home on the idyllic Lago d’Orta in Italy to find answers. There they meet Bella-Mae, their father’s young fiancée. She seems friendly, open, and courteous—yet remains an enigma. The longer the siblings spend time with her, the more their mistrust grows. But in the shimmering heat of summer, they realize too late that it is actually Bella-Mae who is asking the questions. Questions about old wounds, repressed memories, and family secrets that the siblings have spent their entire lives avoiding.

An atmospheric, skillfully told novel full of suspense, secrets, and surprising twists—about art, loss, family, and the truths we’d rather keep hidden.

Rachel Joycewasa stage actress before she wrote her novel *The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry*, which became a global bestseller and was followed by other successful novels. Her new novel, *Summer House*, was an instant *Sunday Times* bestseller and is arguably the author’s most important and personal book to date. Rachel Joyce lives with her family near Stroud.

Bilingual (English-German)

Moderator and Interpreter:Margarete von Schwarzkopf

German reading:Julia Maronde