"If you're looking for something meatier for the beach, something accessible to read but also engaging for your brain and heart, then pack this in your luggage."—Guardian
"Knox is, quite simply, a fabulous writer."—The Literary Review
"Summerland is a remarkable debut. . . . Eloquent, savage and heartfelt, the novel ushers us into a world that is not glamorous at all but slippery with betrayal and deception."—Newsday, on Summerland
Six friends head for Jamaica to take part in the Negociate Classic, a notoriously tough and dangerous deep-water swimming race. Beautiful, rich, and favored by fortune, they ooze confidence and success.
Jeremy Hutchison doesn't belong with these golden people, but his dogged admiration and enthusiasm—not to mention his money—have earned him a place. But beneath the surface this is a group on the edge of crisis—none more so than Jeremy, who is playing for the highest stakes of all. As the race approaches and the tension builds to an excruciating pitch, the friends turn from each other to face the doubts and secrets of their own lives.
Taut and engrossing, this is a compulsive read from an unflinching observer of human folly. But even as Knox peels away the layers and exposes the brutal reality beneath the façade of friendship, he hints at the possibility of human kindness and the redemptive power of love.
