The End of Summer

by Charlotte Philby

'An elegant, provocative, twisting thriller… hugely entertaining and beautifully written' CHRIS WHITAKER

'Sultry and seductive… utterly compelling' LUCY CLARKE

Your mother is not who you think she is…

When the phone rings in Judy McVee’s Languedoc farmhouse, she knows her past has finally caught up with her. It’s her daughter, frantically asking why there are journalists on her London doorstep making terrible accusations.

Decades earlier, Judy was a girl with big plans – to ensnare a rich husband, to make something of herself, to rise above her upbringing and leave behind past tragedies. Wealthy young widower Rory Harrington seemed the perfect target – but Judy hadn’t reckoned on actually falling in love with him.

Now her daughter Francesca, who has secrets of her own, must come to terms with the realisation that the mother she thought she knew wasn’t real. Where has Judy gone – and was anything she told her family true?

Moving from Cape Cod to London, New York to the South of France, THE END OF SUMMER is a gripping, nuanced literary thriller from a writer at the top of her game.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Summer, Mystery Thriller, Summer Reads, Mystery

363 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 20, 2024

Reviews

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. What a GRIPPING and TWISTY multi-layered tale that features flawed characters in differing timelines. There’s multi-locales + wealth, con artists + thieves, and a whole slew of SECRETS. Whew. This takes a bit of time at first (to set up) with so much going on — but once it hits the second half it’s off and running. Is very character driven following four decades of mothers and daughters, and feels more of a mystery than thriller to me. Really enjoyed and read in one sitting. Pub. 6/20/24

[Dominika · Rating 2 out of 5]

The big mystery was neither mysterious nor big.

[Laura Spira · Rating 1 out of 5]

I must have read an enthusiastic review of this book to seek it out but I was disappointed. It is certainly quite gripping: I was gripped by The Da Vinci Code in a similar way. The structure of short chapters keeps things moving but a good thriller writer draws the reader along through the plot with the occasional sudden surprise to be relished, whereas this style is more like being pushed downhill through chicanes, not a journey to savour and admire.

Judy, the main character, was interesting but barely credible. I've never read Lady Audley's Secret so the plot hingeing in part on that fell flat for me. The other characters were two dimensional. I was deeply irritated by the women who blotted their lipstick on, rather than applying it and then blotting it. And even more irritated by the brand name scattering. For me, it's the sign of a lazy author who tries to ground their story in a specific period by such cultural signifiers. This may be because I'm old enough to remember times long before these authors were born and I think they could try harder to get it right. They could read David Kynaston's excellent histories for a start.

There is also much rather flaccid description of people and places. Overall, it's probably a good beach read (I hate beaches) and would make a good Netflix mini series. But this grumpy old woman didn't like it.

[Ellie Fitter · Rating 3 out of 5]

yeah readable, but not twisty enough it could have been more exciting at the end

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a superb book that was hard to put down. I’ve not read a book like this for a while so it was quite a thrill.

The book is split into three parts and each part changes between the voices of the two main characters and different time periods. Sometimes repeatedly swapping like this can be irritating or confusing but not here, it just keeps you wanting to read more. All of the characters are well-rounded and intriguing, the dialogue is believable and the prose easy to read. I didn’t see the plot twists coming. I would really recommend this book.

Thanks to the author, publishers & NetGalley for access to this arc in return for an honest review.

[Elaine M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and absolutely whizzed through it.
I was sucked in and invested straight away with Judy's past and story. I loved hearing about what she got up to, it was entertaining and fun.
The relationship with her daughter was interesting, especially how things came together at the end.
The different relationships and crossovers were interesting and kept me thinking.
Really happy to have read it, great book.
My second by this author, totally different from the spy like book I'd read previously and I liked it much more.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Danni The Girl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks Netgally for my copy in return for an honest review

I thought this started off well and was intrigued to find out what the big secret is, then this was revealed early on and the story was more about how the events lead up to the big secret and if Judy really did kill her husband. I'm not a fan of books that flick between past and present and I can lose interest quickly if my attention was not held and that's what happened here. I just felt that this book was needed and could have been told in a more interesting way.

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable. Lots of twists and turns along the way.

[Rachel Mcloughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story but found that I couldn’t really invest in the characters.

[Rudrashree Makwana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing is compelling. Book is full of secrets, past tragedies, suspense and mystery. Characters have facades and the past is unsettling. Set in London, south of france and new york. The book has been divided into parts. There were perspectives of Judy and Francesca. The book is slow burn and it has twists. The secrets from the past, revelations and tragedy that consumed them all kept me on toes. There were so many heartbreaking moments and heart shattering memories.

Judy and Rory fell in love. They had a daughter Francesca. Judy had her own secrets while Rory was oblivion to them and as soon as he learned about them, he disappeared. Francesca is trying to find her father or get to the bottom of the mystery of his disappearance. While Judy is the one who might know the answers of Francesca’s questions. But she is afraid that her daughter will not approve her. Judy still feels the grief and unsettling emotions. The entire book was suspenseful and mysterious. The ending was shocking.


Thanks to Publisher and Author

[LeeTheGirlReads (Lee Holmes) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio of this book. The dual timeline and POV gave part typical thriller vibes and part 80s retro escapades. A strong start but fairly repetitive. I found myself losing interest towards the end.

[Katy's Book Den · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read with multiple layers, flawed characters, and a twist I didn't see coming!

Judy is a free spirited con artist and hustler, but her plan to seduce the wealthy Rory Harrington and run off with his money backfires as she falls in love with him. We are led through a tangled web of deceit, secrets and lies as the past tries to catch up with her.

The character of Judy is both interesting and intriguing in an unfamiliar way. She's not someone I can relate to but I loved the persona the author created. I didn't empathise with her per se, as all the issues are very much self-inflicted, but I enjoyed the character.

Judy was taught by her mother to be independent, to never rely on a man and carve your own way in life. Judy believes she is a grafter (page 129) and that she has worked hard for what she has and that she is better than the trophy wives. But is she any better, or is she in fact far worse? The reality is that she has never really done a true and honest hard days work in her life. Her work is deceiving people and then living off them. She almost believes she is a Robin Hood, stealing from the rich because it won't make a difference to them.

She claims she is happy in her life with Rory, but then she often talks of being free in her future in a place far away. She is a complex character. So many times she could have come clean about her past but she digs herself further in.

A novel that takes us to several atmospheric locations, from France and Cape Cod to London and New York.

If I could pick at anything it's that I had to occasionally flick back in the latter stages of the book to connect the timelines, of which there are multiple, and so at times you have to keep track. The author also keeps us distanced from the family as a unit, so we never really feel that connection with Judy, Rory and Francesca as a whole. Rory in particular is kept on the periphery. I never felt fully invested in them as a family but perhaps that was the intention. Perhaps this gives us more of an insight into Judy’s mind. Could she ever be fully invested in something like this?

Overall I really enjoyed this. It was well-paced and kept me turning the pages!

[Adrian Scottow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this clever layered novel from Charlotte Philby – it features two main characters – Judy and her daughter, Francesca – across 3 main timelines. 1985 - Judy when she was a young grifter on the make and how she meets Francesca’s father in Cape Cod. 2000 – Francesca as a teenager and Judy as a mother in London. 2024 – Francesca as a mother with her own teenage daughter in London, Judy in the South of France. I liked to think that to some extent we are reading the reminiscences of Judy from the South of France.

The timelines are interwoven in such a way that the story is slowly unveiled before you. It is a story about relationships and about truth and lies and secrets and about what a mother will do to protect her daughter and what a daughter will do to protect her mother. The prose is beautiful and at times very moving. The sense of place in the three locations is excellent you can almost smell the roses in the South of France, the grit and glamour of London and New York and the vineyards and privilege of Cape Cod. All of the characters are vividly depicted with Judy in particular being a wonderful character, she is at-once sympathetic and amoral – a female grifter in the tradition of Han Solo to Danny Ocean – somebody who will steal your heart and then your wallet. There is a little of the Robin Hood to her as well – she is stealing from the wealthy who won’t really miss the trinkets that she needs. If you’ve watched an enjoyed The Talented Mr Ripley or indeed Ripley but wanted the female characters to have a little more agency this is for you. I particularly enjoyed the way the threads of the story were cleverly brought to a poignant and satisfying climax.

Twists and turns, mothers and daughters, glamour and glitz, and, rough and tumble - a fabulous thriller that grips right to the very end.

[idil · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 This book really disappointed me because it had a great premise and it fell flat. My main problem was half ot this book takes place in 1980s and one of our main characters Judy is 19 at the time. However if I were given no information about this book I’d say that Judy is a 30 something living in 2020s. The historical part of the book doesn’t feel genuine at all so I couldn’t get into the story.
The plot became a bit repetitive as it went on. Also I really disliked the characters. I have nothing against unlikable characters and I actually prefer them most of the time but to give an example- Judy doesn’t want to rely on a man but she achieves this by stealing from men. So basically she doesn’t ask for help from her husband by being truthful but steals his things to sell and be free. And this makes her powerful? In fact she steals from everyone and it’s fine because she is a free spirit. She is actually a manipulating thief who gaslights people but ok. The daughter kills her father by mistake but in the end everything is fine and the thief and the murderer lives happily ever after on an island. You see this might actually work on a different well written novel like Gone Girl that is actually self-aware. Here it all ends like “my very own island of women” and it’s ridiculous.

[Alison Bradbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book this is!

Judy is living in retirement in her home in France when she receives a phone call from her daughter, Francesca. Judy feels like she has been waiting for this phone call her whole life. Answering the phone, Judy finds that a pack of journalists have descended on her daughter's doorstep making terrible accusations...and then Judy sees the police car making it's way towards her home...

Taking us back in time to 1985 we meet Judy as a teenager living in New York and working as a pickpocket. But she has bigger plans for her life, and the notification in the paper of the death of millionaire Montgomery Harrington gives her ideas about his recently widowed young son Rory. Over the ensuing years, we follow Judy as she climbs society and struggles to keep her own secrets buried, a matter that is complicated by her past just refusing to stay hidden.

This is a brilliant read. I loved the characters - no matter how deeply flawed they all were. I loved the beautifully portrayed settings and the twisty plot. Yes, it could have been twistier if you love complex mysteries but this was a beautifully imagined mystery that kept me guessing right up to the reveal. It's my first Charlotte Philby novel but it won't be my last!

[Maine Colonial · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can admire the intricate plotting, but the main characters, Judy and her daughter Francesca, disgusted me. I guess I’m supposed to understand what made Judy what she is (a lifelong conwoman), but I never bought the notion that circumstances limited her choices and that a series of events beyond her control is what really caused the tragic events at the center of the plot. Nope; I’m not into moral relativism, and there were so many other options Judy had that I couldn’t relate to her one little bit. Francesca doesn’t do anywhere near the kinds of things her mother does, but she does commit an unconscionable betrayal—one that isn’t necessary to the plot of the book, either.

I also rolled my eyes when the author twice (!) has the time difference between England and the US east cost run the wrong way; i.e., she has it be five house later in the US than in England, rather than the other way around. It’s a surprising mistake for the author to make, but more surprising that no editor caught it. This didn’t affect my rating, though.

[Thebooktrail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Discover the locations in the novel here


A quirky read about a mother accused of killing her husband. You get to see her grow up in one timeline and get up to all kinds of situations. Then the other timeline sees her in France receiving a phone call that sets off a search for the truth. 

The sense of place is good as the locations help move the story on, show how people move around and move on. They aren't strong but they help you to see distance and time and the frustration of trying to find something out when you're far away.

This is a study of what happens between a mum and daughter when not everything is said and when secrets come out. I didn't know who to believe, who to trust and it got me good.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The End of Summer is a stylish thriller by Charlotte Philby.
In short, Judy was a girl with a plan. Taking on a new life meant living it and that was exactly what she was going to do, while keeping enough back that she could jump into another one if it went pear shaped. And this ‘new life’ she chose, there was no way she could have known then the sequence of events she was about to set off!
Oh I loved this book, The End of Summer is a must summer read, so well written with a very human and interesting storyline all orchestrated around a glamorous backdrop. It’s one of those special page turners which stay with you, refreshing different. I agree with Lucy Clarke’s review, it was a sultry and seductive suspense novel. I thought the epigraph set the book up perfectly too! Looking forward to reading more from Charlotte.
Big thanks to Charlotte Philby, HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

[Pam Hutley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a twisting and mysterious easy read- following Judy at at key points in her mad life. It was auspicious that that date of the prologue was the very date I collected the book from the library and read it!
Judy could be seen as an unfortunate woman- but her free spirit gives her a confidence to take her own life in her hands and make the very best of it. She is at heart a good person- a good mother etc . But she harbours so many secrets , and is so schemingly clever it is sometimes hard to understand why she can’t stop and accept when life becomes good. She is driven and the reader is enchanted by her escapades. There are mini denouements throughout as the novel flicks between a 24 hour period of the now - and several key moments in history -1985 and 2004 feature strongly. The epilogue pitches us into 2025 and ties up the last ends of mystery.
It is fast paced and exciting to read. I question why I’ve given it 4 not 5 stars?

[Farah G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judy McVee's daughter Francesca is struggling to reconcile the knowledge of the mother she has always known with the person about whom there is currently a media firestorm underway.

With her past decisions now returning to haunt her, Judy must figure out who she really is and how to manage the fallout from her secrets and salvage her relationship with her daughter, who has issues of her own.

Divided into three parts, the story shifts between the voices of the key characters and different timelines. The characters are well-drawn, the storytelling engaging. This one is worth a read. It gets 3.5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Saffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've enjoyed the author's previous novels and The End of Summer is a little different to these. It's set over three timelines - 1985, 2000 and 2024 and moves between New York, Cape Cod, London and the South of France as the author tells the story of con artist and thief Judy and her daughter Francesca. It's a beautifully written, slow burn, multi layered novel that slowly drew me in. I loved the atmospheric feeling of the novel which really conjured up a sense of place and time. Judy is an intriguing character and far more interesting than Francesca. I did find the pace a little slow at times but was able to immerse myself in the characters and the settings.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

[Jane Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beginning is impactful and intriguing, drawing the reader into Judy's life and wondering who she truly is. Francesca is her daughter, embroiled in a media frenzy about her mother; Francesca needs to know the truth. Set over varying timelines and told from Judy and Francesca's viewpoints, this is an evocative literary thriller, detailed with complex characters whose layers hide secrets and fear. The storytelling is immersive, and it's addictive reading. I like the differing timelines and viewpoints that gradually lead the reader to the truth. I enjoyed the detail that brings the places and times to vibrant life and the plot's subtle twists that keep you invested in the story.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Jo-anne Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judy McVee is a grifter, she's had to be to survive. Picking out a rich young widower as her next target Judy is surprised to find herself married, pregnant and in love. However, life has a habit of catching up and Judy finds that she has to work hard to hide her secrets. Her daughter, Francesca, also has secrets but when her mother's past comes out Francesca has to make decisions.
I surprised myself by enjoying this book as much as I did. It's definitely a summer read, big on glamour and the lives of the well-heeled. The actual crime element is quite underplayed but that is no bad thing. The final section is a little breathless, with reveal piled onto reveal, but it's still a great romp.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of entwined plot lines and a good amount of suspense (some of which is obvious in how it plays out, I didn’t agree there were surprises until the last page as they were all fairly obviously coming) but the plot comes at the expense of character or place. Three generations of daughters but we don’t really get to know any of them or understand anything more than superficial reasoning. I did enjoy reading it but I felt it was all just a bit like a jigsaw — creating a picture once it was all in the right places but still only surface level. Which isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it, I zipped through it, I just wanted to know more about the characters, more about the places, possibly less of the “twists” although perhaps then that wouldn’t be a thriller.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d describe this book as The Talented Mr Ripley meets Taylor Jenkins-Reid. It tracks a (female!) conman who unintentionally falls in love with one of her marks. We meet her in present day after the death of her husband, and I suspected her from the start! The things I loved about this book were that it kept me guessing and was well written, however I did feel it became a little far fetched at the end (but, fiction- suspend your disbelief etc). The cover is deceiving and for future editions I hope it’s reviewed as I feel like this would be much more popular if people realised it had more depth than your typical beach read! Enjoyable and won’t be easily forgotten, even if I didn’t love the ending!

[Freya Hibberd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this book as part of a “blind date with a book” that my local bookshop does with their book proofs (big up Village Books - an elite institution)

Gripped by this book straight from the first chapter and devoured it on the plane to Ljubljana

I loved how the book was written with chapters from different characters POV and different time periods - obsessed with jumping around and how it reveals snippets of the plot at a time

5 stars because
a) I managed to be persuaded to buy it by the first line alone
b) multi characters and time periods yes please
c) characters so well written - complex and interesting
d) HOOKED

[Lolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thriller with two main characters, Judy and her daughter Francesca. It’s set over multiple time lines and Countries. I loved the short chapters, that left me desperate to start the next. But, I’m not going to give anything more away other than to say - Wow, I enjoyed this immensely!

It’s a fabulous twisty and suspenseful thriller that had me gripped from the start to the very end.

Absolutely recommend this book!

Thank you @harperfiction and @boroughpress for the copy of this fantastic book 😍

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The End of Summer is a compelling wonderful story that had me gripped right from the beginning .Set in London ,South of France and New York ,the story is told in three time lines by Judy and her daughter Francesca .I really liked Judy even though she was not completely honest but oh so charming .This book is full of secrets and mystery one of those books that is so hard to put down .The ending was unexpected .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

[Peter Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlotte Philby continues to lay claim to being one of the most exceptional voices of her generation. This departure from her previous more espionage-adjacent work sees her characters roaming internationally and embroiled in mischief at every turn. Highly recommended for those who enjoy good writing, well paced action and a literary thriller which is propelled by the smoothness of the writing.

[Fiona McGregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really seemed to drag towards the end. I listened to the audiobook and the voice actor for Judy irritated me. Her attempt at a male voice was laughable and she'd have been better off keeping her usual tone.

The double plot twist at the end was clever, but not sure if I'll be spruiking this to my friends.