Eternal Summer
In Franziska Gänsler’s moving novel Eternal Summer, a woman in distress and her daughter arrive at a quiet German hotel, finding unexpected companionship with the hotel owner.
Horrific wildfires and heatwaves mark the setting: Climate change has transformed the once-thriving spa town of Bad Heim into an epicenter of environmental collapse. Heat and smoke force its residents to wear masks, destroying the local tourism economy and prompting travel restrictions, fear, and uncertainty. Such calamities backdrop a tender story about feminine camaraderie, as Iris, the owner of the Hotel Bad Heim, takes unexpected responsibility for Dorota and her daughter.
Dorota does not reveal her identity at first. Sensing that her situation must be dire for her to travel to Bad Heim during the wildfires, Iris offers her a room and befriends her daughter, Ilya. Ilya roams the hotel garden, sometimes unsupervised, as Iris begins to learn more about Dorota, who traveled to Bad Heim because of a poet. Dorota is also trying to escape her husband, who begins calling the hotel with disquieting persistence and congeniality.
What makes the novel exceptional is not only the delicate and healing relationship that begins to form between Iris and Dorota, but also the portrayal of the husband’s psychological abuse and narcissism. It is a toxic, pervasive, and subtle force, with much of the resultant damage shown through Dorota’s at times erratic actions and mannerisms as her husband sows doubt about her story. Even so, Iris aids Dorota and Ilya in an escape plan and begins to imagine a different life for herself with this new family.
Startling portrayals of womanhood and contemporary gender imbalances make Eternal Summer an emotional, powerful novel.
Reviewed by
Mike Good
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
