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A Summer Promise
From the bestselling author Katie Flynn. Growing up in the Yorkshire Dales, Maddy Hebditch can't imagine the changes that war will bring when she joins the ATS.
1938: Maddy Hebditch has been living in poverty with her cantankerous grandmother since she was orphaned when she was just five, and it’s a constant struggle to stay out of the workhouse.
However, though life is hard, Maddy has her friends Alice, Marigold and Tom to help her. Together the four spend their summers exploring the Dales and making plans for the future.
Until war breaks out and everything changes.
As the four go their separate ways, Maddy joins the ATS, where she is recruited for one of the most dangerous jobs a woman could do in the Ack Ack sites.
All four face dangers as the war worsens, but when Tom is terribly injured, Maddy’s world falls apart…
1938: Maddy Hebditch has been living in poverty with her cantankerous grandmother since she was orphaned when she was just five, and it’s a constant struggle to stay out of the workhouse.
However, though life is hard, Maddy has her friends Alice, Marigold and Tom to help her. Together the four spend their summers exploring the Dales and making plans for the future.
Until war breaks out and everything changes.
As the four go their separate ways, Maddy joins the ATS, where she is recruited for one of the most dangerous jobs a woman could do in the Ack Ack sites.
All four face dangers as the war worsens, but when Tom is terribly injured, Maddy’s world falls apart…
400 pages, Paperback
First published February 26, 2015
87 people are currently reading
278 people want to read
About the author
Katie Flynn
100 books218 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Katie Flynn was born in Norwich and attended Norwich High School, where she was extremely happy and extremely undistinguished. Published at the tender age of eight, in Enid Blyton's Sunny Stories, she joined a Writers’ Circle as an adult, publishing short stories, articles, etc; only turning to novels in 1971 because the postal strike cut off her main source of income!
At first she wrote under several different names – Judith Saxton, Judy Turner, Lydia Balmain, Judith Arden – but her Katie Flynn books were a delight to write and proved far more popular than she had dreamed. She has now published nearly ninety novels, twenty-seven of which are Flynns. Her most recent titles are: Lost Days of Summer and Christmas Wishes.
Katie Flynn was born in Norwich and attended Norwich High School, where she was extremely happy and extremely undistinguished. Published at the tender age of eight, in Enid Blyton's Sunny Stories, she joined a Writers’ Circle as an adult, publishing short stories, articles, etc; only turning to novels in 1971 because the postal strike cut off her main source of income!
At first she wrote under several different names – Judith Saxton, Judy Turner, Lydia Balmain, Judith Arden – but her Katie Flynn books were a delight to write and proved far more popular than she had dreamed. She has now published nearly ninety novels, twenty-seven of which are Flynns. Her most recent titles are: Lost Days of Summer and Christmas Wishes.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 20, 2017
I really enjoy reading books set in this era and this book was no exception. Recommended.
February 3, 2018
Really enjoyed reading this book. Easy to read but very hard to put down. Recommended.
November 15, 2019
Another nice warming story by Katie Flynn - a story of friendship from early years into adulthood and the war - the trials and tribulations of their lives as they try to stay in touch with each other culminating in a happy ending as only Katie can create
March 6, 2022
What was the summer promise, I wonder now that I've read this book.
In the beginning, the characters were children and therefore, the story was childish. It took too long to tell the little bit of story there was. And all of a sudden, the children were children no more, and were working for the war effort. Huge jumps forward in their life, when it took 150 pages to get through a few days in their early years first.
This was not a well-rounded story. Bits of it were ok but the whole seemed like it had been quickly patched together.
In the beginning, the characters were children and therefore, the story was childish. It took too long to tell the little bit of story there was. And all of a sudden, the children were children no more, and were working for the war effort. Huge jumps forward in their life, when it took 150 pages to get through a few days in their early years first.
This was not a well-rounded story. Bits of it were ok but the whole seemed like it had been quickly patched together.
March 16, 2023
A Summer of Promise was quite different from the other Katie Flynn book that I read this week. The author wrote it while taking a break from writing and it was inspired by her love of Charles Kingsley book the Water Babies. It follows a group of friends from childhood through post war. In fact the war doesn't begin till halfway through the book and while it certainly has a role in the story, the relationships between Maddy, Alice, Tom and Marigold as well as their families are really what the book is about.
March 25, 2023
The book looked through from all the aspects was a let down. It did not add strength to the characters and the story itself had no weight. The writing was simple and straight. I felt like the author took too much time setting up the story, and the major part of the story was rushed and quickly finished off. Some important side plots were completely ignored and given no importance.
Not as though a completely useless read, it did contain some really nice tropes like the childhood silly stories that we all share, the insider view of how women soldiers were treated, and a lot more.
Not as though a completely useless read, it did contain some really nice tropes like the childhood silly stories that we all share, the insider view of how women soldiers were treated, and a lot more.
February 9, 2021
It was a slow read. The story really does not grow as expected. It was like a roller coaster of growing to like it to not wanting to even read it. Not really worth a read.
The plot I really did not understand like literally what was going on!!
The plot I really did not understand like literally what was going on!!
September 6, 2021
A summer promise is a fictional book set before, during and just after the second war world. It tells a tale of love, friendship and truth. Felt the start of the book was very drawn out, but did enjoy the ending. If you like romance and historical fiction you will enjoy this book.
August 30, 2017
Enjoyed this as much as all the others I've read. Looking for another now.
May 5, 2018
To my mind not as good as Katie usually writes, first half I found boring almost decided not to finish it, but plodded on and it did pick up a bit as I went along but not a book I would read again.
February 17, 2019
Most enjoyable.
I really enjoyed this book the characters were great. It would be nice to read a follow to it so we know what happens next.
I really enjoyed this book the characters were great. It would be nice to read a follow to it so we know what happens next.
November 3, 2019
have read this a few times
loved it.
loved it.
March 18, 2021
as always brilliant read
June 9, 2024
THIS HAD ME BAWLING LIKE I HATE THE GUY SM TBH 😭
May 23, 2025
An easy read, goes where you expect it to
August 19, 2025
Easy reading but mostly predictable. The wrapping up of the two main plot points felt pretty rushed.
December 7, 2019
Good read
I enjoyed the book although I thought it was a little slow starting it got me gripped a quarter of the way through
I enjoyed the book although I thought it was a little slow starting it got me gripped a quarter of the way through
September 5, 2017
🤔Another one of Katie Flynn's slow starters. The beginning drags a little so could be shorter but the second half is fine. A good read over all.
July 15, 2015
A poignant, compelling and engrossing Second World War tale, A Summer Promise is the enthralling new novel from one of the UK’s best-loved saga writers, Katie Flynn.
After losing her parents in a tragic car accident, little Maddy Hebditch had been sent off to Yorkshire to live with her only living relative, her strict and cantankerous grandmother at Larkspur Farm. Life with her grandmother is anything but easy and the daily grind at the farm back-breaking and tough, but when things get too hard for her, she escapes into the pages of her favourite books or goes to play with her good friend Alice, who lives up at Windhover Hall. Maddy’s passion for schooling soon gets her a place at one of the county’s top schools. Having grown used to having Maddy doing most of the work at the farm, her grandmother is initially reluctant to send her off to school, but she is finally persuaded to give her granddaughter an education and a much needed new lease of life. At school, Maddy is able to indulge her love for learning and to make friends with other people her own age, like impish Marigold who, like Alice, seems to have set her sights on the boy she has loved from the very first moment she had clapped eyes on him: Tom Browning…
But with the gathering clouds of war fast approaching, it looks like unrequited love will soon be the least of Maddy’s worries. Determined to do her duty for king and country, Maddy decides to join the ATS to do her bit for the war effort. Although at the back of her mind she is still worrying about her grandmother and her increasing reliance and dependence upon the O’Halloran family – who had moved into Larkspur to help run the farm while she is away – Maddy soon throws herself into doing the most dangerous job a woman can do in wartime: working in the ack-ack sites. Despite the constant peril she faces every day, Maddy has never quite managed to forget about the boy who had stolen her heart all those years ago. Yet, she knows that Tom’s feelings for her will always be strictly platonic.
Maddy is not the only one who is risking her life for her country. Although Marigold had found working in the ack-ack sites far too strenuous, Alice had become a nurse in Egypt and Tom had joined up and is facing the enemy on the front-line on a daily basis. With the war seemingly endless, the four friends soon realise that they will need all of their strength and courage to keep fighting for victory.
But when Tom is injured in an accident that leaves him fighting for his life, Maddy realises that despite her best efforts she is still as madly in love with him as ever. But will he ever see her as anything but a friend? Or will she be destined to live the rest of her life in the shadow of her two glamorous friends?
Katie Flynn is a wonderfully gifted writer who effortlessly transports her readers back to the past with her latest mesmerizing saga, A Summer Promise. Full of richly drawn characters that leap off the pages, beautifully evocative descriptions of life in wartime England, touching romance, heart-warming pathos and nail-biting drama, A Summer Promise is a triumphant tale of the ties that bind, love lost and found, the power of friendship and the devastation of war that hooked me in from the very first page and kept me gleefully turning the pages late into the night.
It’s impossible not to fall under Katie Flynn’s magical spell and A Summer Promise is sure to delight her legion of devoted fans and win her lots of new ones who will soon not be able to get enough of her involving, intriguing and mesmerizing historical sagas!
After losing her parents in a tragic car accident, little Maddy Hebditch had been sent off to Yorkshire to live with her only living relative, her strict and cantankerous grandmother at Larkspur Farm. Life with her grandmother is anything but easy and the daily grind at the farm back-breaking and tough, but when things get too hard for her, she escapes into the pages of her favourite books or goes to play with her good friend Alice, who lives up at Windhover Hall. Maddy’s passion for schooling soon gets her a place at one of the county’s top schools. Having grown used to having Maddy doing most of the work at the farm, her grandmother is initially reluctant to send her off to school, but she is finally persuaded to give her granddaughter an education and a much needed new lease of life. At school, Maddy is able to indulge her love for learning and to make friends with other people her own age, like impish Marigold who, like Alice, seems to have set her sights on the boy she has loved from the very first moment she had clapped eyes on him: Tom Browning…
But with the gathering clouds of war fast approaching, it looks like unrequited love will soon be the least of Maddy’s worries. Determined to do her duty for king and country, Maddy decides to join the ATS to do her bit for the war effort. Although at the back of her mind she is still worrying about her grandmother and her increasing reliance and dependence upon the O’Halloran family – who had moved into Larkspur to help run the farm while she is away – Maddy soon throws herself into doing the most dangerous job a woman can do in wartime: working in the ack-ack sites. Despite the constant peril she faces every day, Maddy has never quite managed to forget about the boy who had stolen her heart all those years ago. Yet, she knows that Tom’s feelings for her will always be strictly platonic.
Maddy is not the only one who is risking her life for her country. Although Marigold had found working in the ack-ack sites far too strenuous, Alice had become a nurse in Egypt and Tom had joined up and is facing the enemy on the front-line on a daily basis. With the war seemingly endless, the four friends soon realise that they will need all of their strength and courage to keep fighting for victory.
But when Tom is injured in an accident that leaves him fighting for his life, Maddy realises that despite her best efforts she is still as madly in love with him as ever. But will he ever see her as anything but a friend? Or will she be destined to live the rest of her life in the shadow of her two glamorous friends?
Katie Flynn is a wonderfully gifted writer who effortlessly transports her readers back to the past with her latest mesmerizing saga, A Summer Promise. Full of richly drawn characters that leap off the pages, beautifully evocative descriptions of life in wartime England, touching romance, heart-warming pathos and nail-biting drama, A Summer Promise is a triumphant tale of the ties that bind, love lost and found, the power of friendship and the devastation of war that hooked me in from the very first page and kept me gleefully turning the pages late into the night.
It’s impossible not to fall under Katie Flynn’s magical spell and A Summer Promise is sure to delight her legion of devoted fans and win her lots of new ones who will soon not be able to get enough of her involving, intriguing and mesmerizing historical sagas!
February 15, 2017
Not one of her best.
August 23, 2015
This is a perfect ww2 saga. I loved the characters and the setting of the Yorkshire dales. Not great literature but a perfect example of its kind. Thank goodness Katie Flynn has written so many novels.
October 1, 2016
A book set in the war era based around 4 children and coming of age. 1 boy, 3 girls so its bound to be complicated but oh my gosh it just got annoying! He went from being in love with one and then the next and then the next! A lovely story if you take out the stupid love square!
Read
April 13, 2017Great story. Young love, history, friendship.
Easy read and enjoyable.
Easy read and enjoyable.
May 15, 2018
Dated today but read this a few years ago, have read this book a few times, 5 starts.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews