The Magic of Summer and Friendship in Ally Condie’s Summerlost

Confused and grieving after the sudden death of her father and brother, Cedar finds herself in her mother’s hometown of Iron Creek. Left in the ghostly remains of their new summer home, the Wainwright house—which everyone in town agrees has its own “skeletons”—she pedals after a mysterious boy on a bicycle, and finds herself at the Summerlost Festival, a huge Shakespeare festival at a nearby college campus.
When the boy steps off his bicycle and introduces himself as Leo Bishop, Cedar’s adventure in friendship and healing begins. She lands her first job handing out programs and concessions at the festival and, shortly after, begins a second “job” giving secret tours about the life of Lisette Chamberlain, a famed actress who died several years before. Leo’s fascinations with Lisette drive their secret side business and, eventually, their curiosities about the circumstances of her death, which Cedar speculates might be connected to a series of mysterious objects left on her windowsill.
Through it all, Cedar struggles with her own ghosts, and Condie doesn’t shy away from the complexities of grief and loss. Cedar’s brother, Ben, becomes a particular source of anguish, since she often wished him gone before he disappeared in death. Coping with the loss of her father and brother while focusing on all things absent and past, Cedar has trouble imagining a future for herself. But the magic and life of the theater, as well as Leo’s bold, inspiring, and too-big dreams, allow her to start to see beyond what’s missing and into all that’s possible instead.
Friendship is at the core of this book and it’s a joy to witness Cedar and Leo help one another feel like they’ve found their own “spot[s] in the world.” And while Cedar’s grief is at the heart of her personal struggle, it doesn’t become the foundation of their friendship, which is built on mutual trust and admiration. Cedar opens herself up to Leo’s fascination with theater. And Leo sits with Cedar’s cheesy but engrossing Times of Our Seasons soap opera. Together, they both, knowingly and, at times, unknowingly, guide one another forward in their short-term goals, as well as their larger hopes and dreams.
Summerlost is a heartwarming reminder of summer’s endless possibilities; the breezy freedom of its days, the prospect of discovery as you take off on a bicycle, and, most of all, the magic of a new friendship even in the face of loss.
Summerlost is on shelves March 29.