The Summer Before The War

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.