Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada, August 24th 2021

Format: ebook

Pages: 384

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Hungary, 1943: As war encroaches on the country’s borders, willful young Eva César arrives in the idyllic town of Sopron to spend her last summer as a single woman on her aristocratic family’s estate. Longing for freedom from her domineering father, she counts the days to her upcoming nuptials to a kind and dedicated Red Cross doctor whom she greatly admires.

But Eva’s life changes when she meets Aleandro, a charming and passionate Romani fiddler and artist. With time and profound class differences against them, Eva and Aleandro still fall deeply in love—only to be separated by a brutal act of hatred.

As each are swept into the tides of war, they try to forget their romance. Yet, the haunting memory of that summer will reshape their destinies and lead to decisions which are felt through generations.

From the horrors of the Second World War to the tensions of the 1956 Hungarian uprising and beyond, When the Summer Was Ours is a sweeping story about the toll of secrets, the blurred lines between sacrifice and obsession, and the endurance of the human spirit.

My Review:

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for the copy of this book.
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Read if you like: WW2 stories, Hungarian history.
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With the war coming to Hungary soon, Eva meets Aleandro, a Roman fiddler, and they fall in love. Even though Eva is engaged to someone else. I love the forbidden romance trope, so I enjoyed reading this book to see if Eva and Aleandro would eventually end up together.
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We also get to see ow the war impacted Hungary, as well as the Soviet occupation and then the 1956 uprising!
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CW: war, violence, death, concentration camps.