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In August
Not yet published
Expected 24 Jun 27Three best friends. Endless golden summers. The August they never talk about.
It’s an accident that brings Maud, Connor and Gideon together on their first day of college. From that moment on, the three are inseparable.
Golden boy Connor begins to step off the path so carefully mapped out for him.
Quiet, steadfast Gideon meets the two people he can trust with his most painful secret.
Sharp, brilliant Maud finds the family she has always craved.
Every August, they return to pick blueberries at Gideon’s family farm. It becomes their refuge – from expectation, the future and the increasingly complicated shape of their feelings for one another.
Until, one summer, everything changes.
Years later, a girl arrives at the farm searching for answers. As the past starts catching up with them, the three friends are forced to confront the question they have avoided for decades: what really happened that August?
It’s an accident that brings Maud, Connor and Gideon together on their first day of college. From that moment on, the three are inseparable.
Golden boy Connor begins to step off the path so carefully mapped out for him.
Quiet, steadfast Gideon meets the two people he can trust with his most painful secret.
Sharp, brilliant Maud finds the family she has always craved.
Every August, they return to pick blueberries at Gideon’s family farm. It becomes their refuge – from expectation, the future and the increasingly complicated shape of their feelings for one another.
Until, one summer, everything changes.
Years later, a girl arrives at the farm searching for answers. As the past starts catching up with them, the three friends are forced to confront the question they have avoided for decades: what really happened that August?
416 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication June 24, 2027
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 13, 2026
What a beautiful way to follow three people who meet on the first day of college and track their journey throughout their summers. So many strong topics are covered throughout this book and the three main characters could not be more different from each-other. This is a love story to friendship and soulmates, all the trails and tribulations you go through. I genuinely did not predict the plot twist at the end omg!
August 22, 2026
4.5 rounded up. A fantastic debut!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I really enjoyed this book and think it will appeal to a great many readers. I will certainly be recommending it to people! If you like a character-focused lit fic love story then I am sure you will love this book, as I did.
'In August' moves between the three perspectives of Gideon, Maud, and Connor with each chapter taking place in one August in each year from 1995 to ~2023-2025 (with some years having multiple POVs and some years being just from one character’s perspective). There are also flashbacks to other months since last year’s August and to further in the past, which meant that each chapter being set only in August gave the book a nice structure without being too restrictive. I also like how you get limited scenes with the characters in each year but there is still plenty within the information that we do get to paint a vivid picture of who these characters are and their relationships with one another.
One of the most intriguing and well-explored things in this book was the exploration of how your past can impact your state of mind, and therefore your actions. It was so interesting to see how this played out differently for all of the main characters and how it changed for each of them over the decades that this book follows. You can really see these characters change (for better and for worse) over the course of the novel, and even within each chapter. At times I both disliked and loved each character, to varying extents. If you struggle with unlikeable characters who make decisions you can’t always understand, then this book might not be a good fit. I really enjoy this in books, particularly when the mistakes the characters made were so realistic and they made sense with the context of each character’s past and personality, so it was perfect for me. These characters will stay with me for a while.
I am looking forward to listening to some author interviews as I feel there is lots to talk about with this book and its characters.
This book also features a very interesting found family. The trope of found family in fiction can be over-glamourised but here the relationships between Gideon, Connor, and Maud are just as messy and loving as is more often depicted in biological (or whatever one would consider the opposite of found) families. Due to the format and large time-span this book covers, we don’t see lots of scenes (in comparison to a typical campus novel) of them being friends in college, and I found this to be perfect. What we did get was just the right amount of information for us to understand their closeness without the need for generic bonding scenes that one could imagine for college students.
The writing in this book is also incredibly strong and exactly the style I enjoy. The prose is smooth and not too flowery but still distinctly well-constructed and not clichéd. Despite how I disliked how the latter part of this book’s focus shifted to what I felt were unnecessary plot points and twists, I still enjoyed the reading experience at the end of the book due to the writing and my investment in these characters.
This brings me onto the main issue I had with 'In August', and the only thing holding me back from giving 5 stars: the ending. While the first three quarters were undoubtedly 5 stars for me, the last quarter or so ultimately fell short.
I don’t want to go into any detail as to what exactly happened at the end which didn’t work so well for me as obviously it would be a spoiler. However, I will say that the book ended up focusing too much on plot points that I don’t typically enjoy in the background of books, let alone at the forefront. The twists that were created from this type of plot also felt a bit forced to me. I feel like the character study focus of the first three quarters was so compelling and this focus alone could have carried the book through to the end. This book was strongest for me when the perspective we were reading was not hiding anything from the reader (not that they were aware of anyway, the characters do have subconscious reasonings for things that they don’t confront within themselves and thus these reasonings are not told to the reader), and the honesty that we got from the POV character felt weakened when it became clear that plot points were being omitted. In a way, I felt that the book sacrificed (which is granted a very dramatic way of putting this!) its characters in service of the plot. This is in contrast to how I liked when one character POV would miss things that the another character experienced, and then these things would be later revealed to the reader when we got this missing perspective (allowing for small “plot twists”/reveals without making the narrators suddenly unreliable).
Regardless of how much I have written about my gripes with the ending, I wouldn't let it dissuade you from reading 'In August' at all if the synopsis appeals to you. I was just so in love with the book before the plot began to focus on what it did, which is just a positive reflection on what made up the bulk of this book.
'In August' moves between the three perspectives of Gideon, Maud, and Connor with each chapter taking place in one August in each year from 1995 to ~2023-2025 (with some years having multiple POVs and some years being just from one character’s perspective). There are also flashbacks to other months since last year’s August and to further in the past, which meant that each chapter being set only in August gave the book a nice structure without being too restrictive. I also like how you get limited scenes with the characters in each year but there is still plenty within the information that we do get to paint a vivid picture of who these characters are and their relationships with one another.
One of the most intriguing and well-explored things in this book was the exploration of how your past can impact your state of mind, and therefore your actions. It was so interesting to see how this played out differently for all of the main characters and how it changed for each of them over the decades that this book follows. You can really see these characters change (for better and for worse) over the course of the novel, and even within each chapter. At times I both disliked and loved each character, to varying extents. If you struggle with unlikeable characters who make decisions you can’t always understand, then this book might not be a good fit. I really enjoy this in books, particularly when the mistakes the characters made were so realistic and they made sense with the context of each character’s past and personality, so it was perfect for me. These characters will stay with me for a while.
I am looking forward to listening to some author interviews as I feel there is lots to talk about with this book and its characters.
This book also features a very interesting found family. The trope of found family in fiction can be over-glamourised but here the relationships between Gideon, Connor, and Maud are just as messy and loving as is more often depicted in biological (or whatever one would consider the opposite of found) families. Due to the format and large time-span this book covers, we don’t see lots of scenes (in comparison to a typical campus novel) of them being friends in college, and I found this to be perfect. What we did get was just the right amount of information for us to understand their closeness without the need for generic bonding scenes that one could imagine for college students.
The writing in this book is also incredibly strong and exactly the style I enjoy. The prose is smooth and not too flowery but still distinctly well-constructed and not clichéd. Despite how I disliked how the latter part of this book’s focus shifted to what I felt were unnecessary plot points and twists, I still enjoyed the reading experience at the end of the book due to the writing and my investment in these characters.
This brings me onto the main issue I had with 'In August', and the only thing holding me back from giving 5 stars: the ending. While the first three quarters were undoubtedly 5 stars for me, the last quarter or so ultimately fell short.
I don’t want to go into any detail as to what exactly happened at the end which didn’t work so well for me as obviously it would be a spoiler. However, I will say that the book ended up focusing too much on plot points that I don’t typically enjoy in the background of books, let alone at the forefront. The twists that were created from this type of plot also felt a bit forced to me. I feel like the character study focus of the first three quarters was so compelling and this focus alone could have carried the book through to the end. This book was strongest for me when the perspective we were reading was not hiding anything from the reader (not that they were aware of anyway, the characters do have subconscious reasonings for things that they don’t confront within themselves and thus these reasonings are not told to the reader), and the honesty that we got from the POV character felt weakened when it became clear that plot points were being omitted. In a way, I felt that the book sacrificed (which is granted a very dramatic way of putting this!) its characters in service of the plot. This is in contrast to how I liked when one character POV would miss things that the another character experienced, and then these things would be later revealed to the reader when we got this missing perspective (allowing for small “plot twists”/reveals without making the narrators suddenly unreliable).
Regardless of how much I have written about my gripes with the ending, I wouldn't let it dissuade you from reading 'In August' at all if the synopsis appeals to you. I was just so in love with the book before the plot began to focus on what it did, which is just a positive reflection on what made up the bulk of this book.
August 18, 2026
What a beautiful and deeply moving story this was. It has been an emotional few days following the stories of Maud, Connor and Gideon, but I have been captivated for every single minute of it.
It’s the perfect book for August, not just because of the title but because each chapter of the book is set in August. It begins with August 1995, when the three characters meet, and each subsequent year is told from one of their perspectives.
In 1995, due to unforeseen circumstances, the trio form an unlikely friendship until events in August 2007 tear them apart. Interwoven throughout the narrative, we also find chapters entitled ‘This August’ which give us glimpses as to where the story is going - and lead to a few surprises in themselves.
All three characters have faced struggles within their families while growing up, and all three choose very different career paths where they each have their own demons to face. It’s a story about craving your parents’ acceptance; living with the consequences of your actions and the choices you make; living with the loss of loved ones; and working out who it is you really love.
I do love character-driven stories, and this is one of those which really touched my heart. The depth it goes to within these characters’ lives is just incredible. It is so beautifully written, and such a stunning debut novel: I absolutely adored it.
With many, many thanks to Vintage Books for sending me this very early proof copy.
This book is only being published in June next year, and the cover still has to be decided on, but I think it’s a must-read (especially during August 2027) for all literary fiction and coming-of-age fans. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
It’s the perfect book for August, not just because of the title but because each chapter of the book is set in August. It begins with August 1995, when the three characters meet, and each subsequent year is told from one of their perspectives.
In 1995, due to unforeseen circumstances, the trio form an unlikely friendship until events in August 2007 tear them apart. Interwoven throughout the narrative, we also find chapters entitled ‘This August’ which give us glimpses as to where the story is going - and lead to a few surprises in themselves.
All three characters have faced struggles within their families while growing up, and all three choose very different career paths where they each have their own demons to face. It’s a story about craving your parents’ acceptance; living with the consequences of your actions and the choices you make; living with the loss of loved ones; and working out who it is you really love.
I do love character-driven stories, and this is one of those which really touched my heart. The depth it goes to within these characters’ lives is just incredible. It is so beautifully written, and such a stunning debut novel: I absolutely adored it.
With many, many thanks to Vintage Books for sending me this very early proof copy.
This book is only being published in June next year, and the cover still has to be decided on, but I think it’s a must-read (especially during August 2027) for all literary fiction and coming-of-age fans. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
thank you so much NetGalley for this ARC!
In August is perfect for fans of Normal People and One Day.
i am so upset with this book and its only because i finished it.
cycling through the same three characters every august, you slowly learn about their lives, their relationships, and the distance between them. over a space of 3 decades we learn all about them, how they change and what changes them.
my favourite genres is books that take a look at and explore characters as people, as opposed to being driven exclusively by plot points. all three of them have flaws, but they also have redemptions, explanations and reasons behind why they are the way they are and act the way they Maud, Gideon and Connor all feel like people that are walking the earth with us.
In August had me crying from 20% consistently through until the end. This is in my top 10 books of the year and it’s one that will stay with me.
when In August comes out for pre order i’ll be the first one in line. i cannot wait to have this one on my shelves. thank you so much for letting me be able to be one of the first people to read this!
In August is perfect for fans of Normal People and One Day.
i am so upset with this book and its only because i finished it.
cycling through the same three characters every august, you slowly learn about their lives, their relationships, and the distance between them. over a space of 3 decades we learn all about them, how they change and what changes them.
my favourite genres is books that take a look at and explore characters as people, as opposed to being driven exclusively by plot points. all three of them have flaws, but they also have redemptions, explanations and reasons behind why they are the way they are and act the way they Maud, Gideon and Connor all feel like people that are walking the earth with us.
In August had me crying from 20% consistently through until the end. This is in my top 10 books of the year and it’s one that will stay with me.
when In August comes out for pre order i’ll be the first one in line. i cannot wait to have this one on my shelves. thank you so much for letting me be able to be one of the first people to read this!
September 13, 2026
Review of advanced copy received from NetGalley.
A spellbinding narrative tracing the changing relationship between three friends over a thirty-year period. The novel explores the bonds that hold their friendship together and the forces that threaten to pull them apart.
In August is a magnetic text, driven by emotional force and attraction. The three central characters, Connor, Gideon and Maud, are superbly drawn: flawed, awkward and intense, reflecting the complexities of their relationships.
Maud, in particular, was fascinating. Her arc centres on loss, motherhood and regret. Perri captures the weight of choice and consequence with such skill that it is difficult not to feel moved. The structure is equally impressive, alternating between characters and parallel storylines to portray their experiences.
A compelling and emotionally charged exploration of friendship, desire and consequence - the close character examination reminds me of Sally Rooney in some respects. In August will resonate with anyone drawn to intense, intricately drawn relationships and the complexities of human connection.
A spellbinding narrative tracing the changing relationship between three friends over a thirty-year period. The novel explores the bonds that hold their friendship together and the forces that threaten to pull them apart.
In August is a magnetic text, driven by emotional force and attraction. The three central characters, Connor, Gideon and Maud, are superbly drawn: flawed, awkward and intense, reflecting the complexities of their relationships.
Maud, in particular, was fascinating. Her arc centres on loss, motherhood and regret. Perri captures the weight of choice and consequence with such skill that it is difficult not to feel moved. The structure is equally impressive, alternating between characters and parallel storylines to portray their experiences.
A compelling and emotionally charged exploration of friendship, desire and consequence - the close character examination reminds me of Sally Rooney in some respects. In August will resonate with anyone drawn to intense, intricately drawn relationships and the complexities of human connection.
Review of advance copy
I received an advanced copy of an August and I didn’t get anything done for three days. If I wasn’t reading it I was obsessively I was thinking about it. Each chapter takes place during one month of August and starts with three students who meet on the first day of college. A friendship and complicated love triangle develops. Each August from the beginning of college to middle adulthood, you get to know maude, Connor and Gideon and what has happened to them in the year that has past. Perri does a phenomenal job of using this way of showing the passage of time to deeply develop each character. I really fell in love with all three of them. In August is beyond engrossing and both fills and breaks your heart. Maude, Connor and Gideon will remain in my heart forever. I could not recommend this enough.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Connor O'Sullivan's first year at Brown University almost ended before it had began when he fell from a terrace on his first night. The first two people to get to him were Gideon and Maud. It was the start of an unlikely friendship that was to shape their lives. A summer spent picking blueberries at Gideon's fathers farm turned into an annual event and the farm became their place, their sanctuary and their downfall.
This novel is hauntingly beautiful, when I wasn't reading it I found myself thinking about the characters, I didn't always like them but I cared deeply. A powerful moving novel that really got under my skin, totally recommended
My thanks to Random House UK, Vintage for the early read, all opinions expressed are my own
This novel is hauntingly beautiful, when I wasn't reading it I found myself thinking about the characters, I didn't always like them but I cared deeply. A powerful moving novel that really got under my skin, totally recommended
My thanks to Random House UK, Vintage for the early read, all opinions expressed are my own
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A strong 3.5 ⭐️
A very well written, coming-of-age novel - definitely for fans of Normal People, as marketed. The only reason it didn't rate higher for me was just because it felt a bit slow in places, but that may well just be a me problem as Normal People also wasn't a favourite of mine (sorry), so it could be that these types of books just aren't my thing.
Having said that, despite several similarities, In August is most definitely not Normal People 2.0 and is a good book in its own right. If you like that kind of book, then In August is absolutely one to look out for on its release in June 2027.
(Thank you to the publisher for my advanced copy!)
A very well written, coming-of-age novel - definitely for fans of Normal People, as marketed. The only reason it didn't rate higher for me was just because it felt a bit slow in places, but that may well just be a me problem as Normal People also wasn't a favourite of mine (sorry), so it could be that these types of books just aren't my thing.
Having said that, despite several similarities, In August is most definitely not Normal People 2.0 and is a good book in its own right. If you like that kind of book, then In August is absolutely one to look out for on its release in June 2027.
(Thank you to the publisher for my advanced copy!)
Review of advance copy received from Author
Not only was I up all night reading, but I continued to think of Maude, Gideon and Connor and their friendships for days after finishing the last page.
While reading "In August," I was fully invested and rooting for these characters, not knowing how I wanted the book to end, only knowing I didn't WANT it to end. And still, I was surprised when I got there. New author Celeste Perri surprised me over and over with her clever dialogue, brilliant writing and the emotional depth of her characters. Congratulations to Celeste on her incredible, heartfelt debut.
While reading "In August," I was fully invested and rooting for these characters, not knowing how I wanted the book to end, only knowing I didn't WANT it to end. And still, I was surprised when I got there. New author Celeste Perri surprised me over and over with her clever dialogue, brilliant writing and the emotional depth of her characters. Congratulations to Celeste on her incredible, heartfelt debut.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
There was a blurb attached to this book that said "for fans of Heart, the Lover" and that is an absolute bullseye. This book is GORGEOUS and I loved it. The lives of Gideon, Connor and Maud is full of joy, the naivety of youth and the pain of growth. I was walking around with this book in my hand all day reading it because I couldn't put it down. Adored.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This sweeping, gorgeous novel is so much more than a love story - it’s about finding your people, loving them fiercely, and letting yourself be loved in return. I am not ready to let go of Maud, Connor, Avery, and Gideon. Oh, sweet Gideon. He had my heart from page 4.
Review of advance copy
Did not want it to end. Great character development. Loved it.
August 21, 2026
I loved everything about this 🫐
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
What an impressive debut! In August is original, kept me guessing and made it hard to put down. The unexpected twists, the deep development —all made me fall more in love with great fiction.
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