Overview

When James meets Luke, everything changes- an exhilarating tale of hidden desire and sudden freedom in the wild countryside. On the cusp of adulthood, James dreams of another life far away from his small village. As he contends with the expectations of his family, his burgeoning desire - an ache for autonomy, tenderness and sex - threatens to unravel his shy exterior. Then he meets Luke. Unkempt and handsome, charismatic and impulsive, he has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle on a nearby farm. Luke comes with a reputation for danger, but underneath his bravado lie anxieties and hopes of his own. With the passing seasons, the two teenagers grow closer and the bond that emerges between them transforms their lives. James falls deeply for Luke, yet he is never sure of Luke's true feelings. And as the end of summer nears, he has a choice to make - will he risk everything for the possibility of love?

Full Product Details

9781529935240

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Reviews

An achingly beautiful story of first love in the English countryside . . . Lyrical, atmospheric and transporting * Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2025* * An exquisite tale of first love . . . Hewitt is superb in his loving and acute descriptions of the natural world -- SARAH PERRY * Guardian * Heart-rending . . . sensuous and decadent * Financial Times * A beautiful novel about how a first love can shape a whole life -- HELEN MACDONALD, author of H is for Hawk A mature and complete debut novel . . . The central relationship occurs by light, sensitive touch, and reaches arresting emotional depths * New Statesman * Blisses with the bright verdure of youth . . . It’s a novel about us -- KAVEH AKBAR, author of Martyr! A gorgeous debut . . . a novel that thrums with hidden love and concealed truths -- ANDREW McMILLAN, author of Pity and Physical A luminous portrayal of two teenagers bonding with each other over one heady, transformative year * Waterstones * A striking debut novel . . . as bittersweet and elegiac as birdsong -- PATRICK GALE, author of Notes from an Exhibition Accomplished . . . Feelings of love, desire, yearning, fear are mirrored and heightened by an intensely vivid natural world * Irish Times *

An achingly beautiful story of first love in the English countryside . . . Lyrical, atmospheric and transporting * Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2025* * Hewitt is superb in his loving and acute descriptions of the natural world -- SARAH PERRY A gorgeous debut novel about an all-encompassing first love… I promise it’s amazing! -- Jack Edwards @jack_edwards Heart-rending . . . sensuous and decadent * Financial Times * A beautiful, lyrical and tender novel of youthful passion and the longing for connection -- FERDIA LENNON, author of Glorious Exploits A beautiful novel about how a first love can shape a whole life -- HELEN MACDONALD, author of H is for Hawk A mature and complete debut novel . . . The central relationship occurs by light, sensitive touch, and reaches arresting emotional depths * New Statesman * Blisses with the bright verdure of youth . . . It’s a novel about us -- KAVEH AKBAR, author of Martyr! A gorgeous debut . . . a novel that thrums with hidden love and concealed truths -- ANDREW McMILLAN, author of Pity and Physical A luminous portrayal of two teenagers bonding with each other over one heady, transformative year * Waterstones *

Author Information

Sean Hewitt was born in 1990. He is the author of two poetry collections, Tongues of Fire and Rapture's Road, and a memoir, All Down Darkness Wide. He collaborated with the artist Luke Edward Hall on 300,000 Kisses- Tales of Queer Love from the Ancient World. Hewitt has received the Laurel Prize and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. He lectures at Trinity College Dublin and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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