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Title: Black Dog Summer

Author: Miranda Sherry

Narrator: Jilly Bond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-14-14

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Yesterday, Sally was living in an idyllic South African farmstead with her teenage daughter, Gigi. Now Sally is dead, murdered, and Gigi is alone.

But Sally lingers unseen in her daughter's shadow. When Gigi moves in with her aunt, Sally comes, too.

Then Gigi's cousin develops an obsession with African black magic. Now Sally must find a way to stop her daughter from making a mistake that will destroy the lives of everyone.

Members Reviews:

Compelling, unpredictable page-turner

Black Dog Summer opens with the horrific death of a free-spirited mother on a farm in South Africa. In a similar vein to The Lovely Bones, we then follow the story through the eyes of her spirit as it floats somewhere between earth and the afterlife. Like the Lovely Bones, the book deals with the aftermath of her death, and how various family members move forward. But this is where the similarities end.

The book is compelling for a number of reasons: we hear about the mother's complex relationship with her sister and the sister's husband; the grief of the daughter she has left behind; and the story of the witchdoctor who is able to see her spirit and foresee danger in the near future. The story is complex, yet light; violent, yet gentle. It's a definite page-turner and something that (while it deals with complex issues) is light enough not to feel drained when you read it.

Miranda's prose is clean, evocative and poetic. She creates a beautiful, real sense of the world she writes about. My favourite part of the book is that it ultimately has an uplifting message. I put it down feeling a bit more positive and hopeful about the world we live in.

A great take - and an unusual one - on family relationships and healing

In a lot of ways this is a story about stories. The way all our stories interweave with each other's - knotting, yanking, braiding and fraying. So, if you like stories about family relationships, this is one for you. Miranda is a great new South African author, but you don't have to be South African to enjoy it.

Wanted to like this more

I had high hopes for this book and found it really captivating initially. As it lumbered along, though, it seemed to be one stereotype or cliche after another. By the end, I found myself irritated. It inevitably brings to mind "The Lovely Bones", but "Black Dog Summer" is far less readable or, frankly, impressive.

Four Stars

An intriguing story and a wonderful combination of modern and tradtional South Africa. An easy and enjoyable read!

Really good

Sally has been attacked and she died, but she isn't completely gone. She can see what's going on in the lives of the people she loves. She's just a shadow and she can't influence anything that happens. Her daughter Gigi has to move in with her aunt, uncle and two cousins. Her cousin Briony isn't very happy with this arrangement as it means she has to give up her room. She didn't know Sally and Gigi very well, so she isn't really grieving. A lot has happened between her mother and her aunt and they weren't keeping in touch. Gigi isn't easy to be around and Briony has no idea how to handle that. Her mother is feeling sad, but there's also something else going on between her mother and father, so there's nobody she can turn to.

Briony loves magic, but when she discovers there is a form of it that really exists she isn't so obsessed with it any longer.