"Perfect for readers in a post-Downton Abbey slump. as delicately crafted as a bone-china teacup." —The Seattle Times EAST SUSSEX, 1914. It is the end of England's brief Edwardian summer, and in the idyllic coastal town of Rye, Agatha Kent has just risked her carefully built reputation by pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master. When Beatrice Nash arrives with one trunk and several large crates of books, it is clear she is significantly more freethinking-and attractive-than anyone believes a Latin teacher should be. Mourning the death of her beloved father, Beatrice simply wants to be left alone-much to the dismay of Agatha's nephew, Hugh Grange, a medical student on leave. But just as Beatrice comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape and the colorful characters who populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For the unimaginable is coming. Soon the limits of progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small town and its inhabitants go to war. "This luminous story of a family, a town, and a world in their final moments of innocence is as lingering and lovely as a long summer sunset." —ANNIE BARROWS, author of The Truth According to Us "Simonson is like a Jane Austen for our day and age-she is that good—and The Summer Before the War is nothing short of a treasure." —PAULA MCLAIN, author of Circling the Sun NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • The Philadelphia Inquirer • NPR • Chicago Public Library • Blog Critics • BookPage