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The First Act of Summer
Not yet published
Expected 18 Jun 26Is it ever too late to figure out who you were meant to be?
As children, Hester and Elias were inseparable. Every year, their families would spend the summer together at their beach huts on a wild and windswept sandbank, where the two of them never left each other’s side.
But childhood friendships can stretch and warp as you grow up, and in the summer of 1976, the year they turned 14, Hester did a terrible thing that would shatter both of their lives.
For her 60th birthday, Hester goes back to her family’s beach hut to hide from the husband she wants to leave and the daughters she’s never fully understood. It is here that she finally faces up to what she did that fateful summer, wondering whether it’s ever too late to become the person you were meant to be. And if there’s still a chance of finding Elias again…
As children, Hester and Elias were inseparable. Every year, their families would spend the summer together at their beach huts on a wild and windswept sandbank, where the two of them never left each other’s side.
But childhood friendships can stretch and warp as you grow up, and in the summer of 1976, the year they turned 14, Hester did a terrible thing that would shatter both of their lives.
For her 60th birthday, Hester goes back to her family’s beach hut to hide from the husband she wants to leave and the daughters she’s never fully understood. It is here that she finally faces up to what she did that fateful summer, wondering whether it’s ever too late to become the person you were meant to be. And if there’s still a chance of finding Elias again…
- GenresFiction
Kindle Edition
Expected publication June 18, 2026
About the author
Joanna Glen
5 books392 followersI am a former teacher and headteacher, now a novelist, who lives by the sea in Brighton, on the south coast of England.
I'm a lifelong hispanophile, with a passion for Andalusia, all of it, but in particular the beguiling city of Córdoba and the glorious coast of Cádiz.
You can expect Spain and sunshine and sea and beach and snowstorms and octopi and wildness and birds and travel and wonder as the backdrop to my characters' lives.
I love to explore relationships in all their layered complexity. That's what my books are about: who we are and how we live and love.
The pain and the joy. The living and the dying. The love and the hope.
My next book comes out in June 2026.
I'm a lifelong hispanophile, with a passion for Andalusia, all of it, but in particular the beguiling city of Córdoba and the glorious coast of Cádiz.
You can expect Spain and sunshine and sea and beach and snowstorms and octopi and wildness and birds and travel and wonder as the backdrop to my characters' lives.
I love to explore relationships in all their layered complexity. That's what my books are about: who we are and how we live and love.
The pain and the joy. The living and the dying. The love and the hope.
My next book comes out in June 2026.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Joanna Glen is a go-to author for me. She really connects with nature throughout her work and this is very much the case in her new book, specifically the sea. As a self-proclaimed thalossophile, this book was meant to be read by me.
Set over the course of several decades, it tells the story of Hester, a young girl who goes to her family beach hut every summer, hanging out with her best friend Elias. Then something tragic happens and the friends part ways.
It is brilliantly split between “then and now” the ‘now’ sees Hester on the eve of her 60th birthday, as she considers leaving her husband. She has gone to the hut on her own to contemplate her life.
The flashback scenes are my favourite. They start when she was very young and continue through to older adulthood, as you learn about Hester’s choices that led her down the path. It packs an emotional punch and you cannot help but be drawn to her captivating story. The book is peppered with news stories and music connected to the era. There is a lot of emphasis on the royal family and major events such as weddings, births, divorces and death are used well to pinpoint each part of Hester’s life. (The book finishes before the Andrew scandal broke, so we are spared that, although I can’t help but think how Hester would have spoken about it!)
It’s a beautifully written novel, with accurate portrayals of the surrounding environment. You feel the sand between your toes, the cold bite and salty smells of the sea. You can hear the gulls cry overhead and the rattle of the boat masts. Taste the food and visualise the moon reflecting off the water. Perfection!
It’s a little dark in places, and some of the characters are vile, but well written “baddies” show real skill; all too many times I’ve read books with characters that are almost cartoonish, like a pantomime villain, but Joanna writes awful people well.
I could honesty write a whole essay about how much I loved this book, but I am conscious of this review becoming long winded.
My short version? It’s bloody brilliant, no notes. Out in June – save the date and go and buy it!
Thank you so much to Harper Collins and Netgalley for my copy.
Set over the course of several decades, it tells the story of Hester, a young girl who goes to her family beach hut every summer, hanging out with her best friend Elias. Then something tragic happens and the friends part ways.
It is brilliantly split between “then and now” the ‘now’ sees Hester on the eve of her 60th birthday, as she considers leaving her husband. She has gone to the hut on her own to contemplate her life.
The flashback scenes are my favourite. They start when she was very young and continue through to older adulthood, as you learn about Hester’s choices that led her down the path. It packs an emotional punch and you cannot help but be drawn to her captivating story. The book is peppered with news stories and music connected to the era. There is a lot of emphasis on the royal family and major events such as weddings, births, divorces and death are used well to pinpoint each part of Hester’s life. (The book finishes before the Andrew scandal broke, so we are spared that, although I can’t help but think how Hester would have spoken about it!)
It’s a beautifully written novel, with accurate portrayals of the surrounding environment. You feel the sand between your toes, the cold bite and salty smells of the sea. You can hear the gulls cry overhead and the rattle of the boat masts. Taste the food and visualise the moon reflecting off the water. Perfection!
It’s a little dark in places, and some of the characters are vile, but well written “baddies” show real skill; all too many times I’ve read books with characters that are almost cartoonish, like a pantomime villain, but Joanna writes awful people well.
I could honesty write a whole essay about how much I loved this book, but I am conscious of this review becoming long winded.
My short version? It’s bloody brilliant, no notes. Out in June – save the date and go and buy it!
Thank you so much to Harper Collins and Netgalley for my copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The First Act of Summer is a tender, windswept novel that moves with the quiet ache of memory—one of those stories where the past feels so close you can almost taste the salt on the air. Hester and Elias’s childhood friendship, forged on a wild sandbank and shaped by long, sun‑bleached summers, has the kind of intensity that only exists before the world teaches you to guard your heart. And yet, in the heat of 1976, everything fractures. The terrible thing Hester does—left unnamed for so long—casts a shadow that stretches across decades.
What makes the novel so affecting is the way it holds both versions of Hester at once: the girl who made a devastating mistake, and the sixty‑year‑old woman returning to the beach hut she once adored, carrying a lifetime of regret, disappointment, and unspoken longing. Her retreat isn’t dramatic; it’s weary, almost instinctive—a woman slipping back to the one place that ever felt like hers. The beach, with its shifting tides and stubborn resilience, becomes a kind of mirror, reflecting who she was, who she became, and who she still might be.
Joanna Glen writes with a gentle, lyrical precision that makes even the smallest moments feel luminous. The novel explores the way secrets warp a life from the inside, how love can endure even when it’s been buried, and how redemption often begins with the simple act of looking back without flinching. The relationship between Hester and her daughters is especially poignant—full of missed signals, quiet misunderstandings, and the painful realisation that love doesn’t always translate into closeness.
And then there is Elias, the ghost at the edge of every chapter. The possibility of finding him again—of finally facing what happened—gives the story its quiet, persistent heartbeat. It’s less about romance than about reckoning, about whether two people shaped by the same wound can ever find their way back to each other.
Raw, sweeping, and deeply humane, this is a novel about the long tail of a single moment, the resilience of love, and the hope that it’s never too late to become the person you were meant to be.
With thanks to Joanna Glen, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
What makes the novel so affecting is the way it holds both versions of Hester at once: the girl who made a devastating mistake, and the sixty‑year‑old woman returning to the beach hut she once adored, carrying a lifetime of regret, disappointment, and unspoken longing. Her retreat isn’t dramatic; it’s weary, almost instinctive—a woman slipping back to the one place that ever felt like hers. The beach, with its shifting tides and stubborn resilience, becomes a kind of mirror, reflecting who she was, who she became, and who she still might be.
Joanna Glen writes with a gentle, lyrical precision that makes even the smallest moments feel luminous. The novel explores the way secrets warp a life from the inside, how love can endure even when it’s been buried, and how redemption often begins with the simple act of looking back without flinching. The relationship between Hester and her daughters is especially poignant—full of missed signals, quiet misunderstandings, and the painful realisation that love doesn’t always translate into closeness.
And then there is Elias, the ghost at the edge of every chapter. The possibility of finding him again—of finally facing what happened—gives the story its quiet, persistent heartbeat. It’s less about romance than about reckoning, about whether two people shaped by the same wound can ever find their way back to each other.
Raw, sweeping, and deeply humane, this is a novel about the long tail of a single moment, the resilience of love, and the hope that it’s never too late to become the person you were meant to be.
With thanks to Joanna Glen, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Take one author whose writing you adore...add in a setting that holds such special memories and you have the perfect book. You know the books you want to devour in one sitting...this is exactly what I want to do with Joanna's writing but I literally had to force myself to put it down it as I knew I wouldn't want it to end. I enjoyed reading this over a couple of weeks. I savoured every page and mindfully read this one which seamlessly switches between the past and the present until they come together.
The characters are... absolutely fantastic...Hester...so much depth, perfectly flawed, relatable and real. I loved her daughter May too...Elias...this beautiful deep thinking soul born of music. The Queen💛. We get to know every character on the Spit and they all add to the richness of hazy, hormone fuelled summers of the past and the realities of adulthood.
The setting...I got goosebumps when I read the first page and saw where it was set...a really special place where my little family and I had our first family holiday as the Covid restrictions relaxed and somewhere we've returned to several times. I was transported there with this book and it brought back such happy memories 💞
The storyline was just so captivating...how one event in childhood had such a far reaching impact on her life...it was so elegant...many observations of relationships, little coincidences and what ifs.
This one is out in summer and my pre-ordered copy will take pride of place on my trophy shelf.
The characters are... absolutely fantastic...Hester...so much depth, perfectly flawed, relatable and real. I loved her daughter May too...Elias...this beautiful deep thinking soul born of music. The Queen💛. We get to know every character on the Spit and they all add to the richness of hazy, hormone fuelled summers of the past and the realities of adulthood.
The setting...I got goosebumps when I read the first page and saw where it was set...a really special place where my little family and I had our first family holiday as the Covid restrictions relaxed and somewhere we've returned to several times. I was transported there with this book and it brought back such happy memories 💞
The storyline was just so captivating...how one event in childhood had such a far reaching impact on her life...it was so elegant...many observations of relationships, little coincidences and what ifs.
This one is out in summer and my pre-ordered copy will take pride of place on my trophy shelf.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3.5* The First Act of Summer - Joanna Glen
Hester bunkers down in the family beach hut on the occasion of her 60th birthday. Ambivalent about contact from her husband, continually checking to see if her daughters have sent a text. Hester cannot help but recall her childhood summers in the beach house and the searingly tragic events of 1976, events that Hester was possibly the conduit for.
Told over two timelines, The First Act of Summer is the lyrical telling of Hester’s life and, more importantly, her true love and her losses. The build up of the plot and the prose is adept by Joanna Glen (who always delivers) albeit I did feel a firmer edit would have been beneficial as the early years have some superfluous detail.
Joanna Glen is a go-to author for me and this is another which I would hugely recommend.
Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for an ARC.
Hester bunkers down in the family beach hut on the occasion of her 60th birthday. Ambivalent about contact from her husband, continually checking to see if her daughters have sent a text. Hester cannot help but recall her childhood summers in the beach house and the searingly tragic events of 1976, events that Hester was possibly the conduit for.
Told over two timelines, The First Act of Summer is the lyrical telling of Hester’s life and, more importantly, her true love and her losses. The build up of the plot and the prose is adept by Joanna Glen (who always delivers) albeit I did feel a firmer edit would have been beneficial as the early years have some superfluous detail.
Joanna Glen is a go-to author for me and this is another which I would hugely recommend.
Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for an ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Every one of this author’s previous books is a mesmerizing story, a beautiful heartfelt read, and a glorious portrayal of what it is to be human, and “The First Act of Summer” is all those things. A slowly unfolding story of how our past actions can echo out into our present lives, for good and for bad, but how it’s never too late to find out who we were truly meant to be.
Past and present intertwine as we learn the story of that terrible summer, how things went so badly wrong, and just how its shadow bled over Hester’s life. Families, first loves, obsession, forgiveness and the power of love are beautiful examined in this radiant, beautifully written novel from an author at the height of her powers. Highly recommended!
Past and present intertwine as we learn the story of that terrible summer, how things went so badly wrong, and just how its shadow bled over Hester’s life. Families, first loves, obsession, forgiveness and the power of love are beautiful examined in this radiant, beautifully written novel from an author at the height of her powers. Highly recommended!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I loved, loved this book. I've been a fan of Joanna Glen since reading her debut, and this book is possibly my favourite yet. I genuinely could not put it down as I fell in love with her main character, Hester, who is so brilliantly portrayed, both as a child and teenager growing up, and as an older woman turning sixty. I adored her humour, her view of the world, her sadness and her foibles. And Elias. oh I loved him too. This is a novel about innocence and the loss of it, the painful process of growing up, the dark, long-lasting power of a terrible mistake. But it is also about forgiveness, redemption and love, set in an exquisitely drawn beach landscape in Dorset. Addictive, devastating, humorous. Go read this novel!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Although they were close friends in childhood, Hester and Elias's relationship fell apart after she did something terrible when they were both still just teenagers.
Decades later, Hester has yet to come to terms with her past with Elias, something that has tainted her marriage and her relationship with her children. Can she find a way to make peace with her failures, and find a measure of emotional ease, all these years later?
Told in dual timelines, this is a moving rendering of a tale that is both the recollection of a life lived with regrets, and a coming of age story.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Decades later, Hester has yet to come to terms with her past with Elias, something that has tainted her marriage and her relationship with her children. Can she find a way to make peace with her failures, and find a measure of emotional ease, all these years later?
Told in dual timelines, this is a moving rendering of a tale that is both the recollection of a life lived with regrets, and a coming of age story.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Another winner from Joanna Glen! She is an author who knows how to write real characters who don't feel like caricatures and capture tons of emotion. The setting is gorgeous and you feel like you're right there seeing the highs and lows of Hester.
I thought the flow of the book with the present and the past worked very well, slowly uncovering more of Hester's life before and after the terrible thing of 1976. I found myself having a hard time putting it down because of being so drawn in.
A perfect read for summer!
I thought the flow of the book with the present and the past worked very well, slowly uncovering more of Hester's life before and after the terrible thing of 1976. I found myself having a hard time putting it down because of being so drawn in.
A perfect read for summer!
May 26, 2026
Having read all of this author’s previous books and rated them highly, I was thrilled to receive a review copy from NetGalley. The book starts with a punchy short chapter that immediately engages. Love the dual timeline from Hester’s present day situation on her 60th birthday, and her past, and how that has impacted on her present day. Her bittersweet reflections, humour and reminiscing is beautiful. Perfect ending and didn’t want it to end. Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to review this lovely book
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A beautiful and poignant story about the impact the past has on the present, reconciliation and forgiveness. Hester Ford is celebrating her sixtieth birthday alone and contemplating her past. In alternating chapters, the past and the present run side by side. The pace is gentle and the character of Hester is beautifully drawn. An excellent read.
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest and unedited review.
I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for my honest and unedited review.
May 21, 2026
Review to follow
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews