Review ~ See you in September by Charity Norman

Allen & Unwin
 2017

What's it all about about ...

It was supposed to be a short trip - a break in New Zealand before her best friend's wedding. But when Cassy waved goodbye to her parents, they never dreamed that it would be years before they'd see her again.

Having broken up with her boyfriend, Cassy accepts an invitation to stay in an idyllic farming collective. Overcome by the peace and beauty of the valley and swept up in the charisma of Justin, the community's leader, Cassy becomes convinced that she has to stay.

As Cassy becomes more and more entrenched in the group's rituals and beliefs, her frantic parents fight to bring her home - before Justin's prophesied Last Day can come to pass.

What did I think about it...

Whilst on holiday in New Zealand, Cassy has a row with her boyfriend, Hamish. After abandoning him, she hitches a ride with a group of people who persuade her to join them in Gethsemane, a rural community which lies within the volcanic shadow of Mount Tarawera. 

Living a sustainable existence in such an idyllic location is an attractive proposition to Cassy and even though she knows should return to her family in London, she is entranced by the group's ideology and decides to make her home with them. When Cassy fails to return, as planned in September, precious family memories are all that Cassy’s parents, Diana, Mark and younger sister, Tara have to sustain them through the missing years.

I think what is so powerful about this story is the utter believability of how Cassy was taken in and how, almost without conscious thought, she was brainwashed into believing that the life she was now part of at Gethsemane was the absolute truth. The indoctrination at the heart of the story is subtle and so cleverly contrived that I almost wanted to join the community, and follow the teaching and philosophy of Justin Calvin, for myself.

I read See You in September over the space of a couple of days and even when I wasn’t reading it I still had Cassy on my mind. As a parent, I felt every inch of Diana and Mark’s anguish at not being able to communicate with their precious daughter, and yet, due to the author’s vivid description of life at Gethsemane I also understood why Cassy felt compelled to remain there with her new family and friends.

Powerful, upsetting and more than a little disturbing, See You in September is an unputdownable novel by an author at her absolute best.

Best Read With...a rich and succulent venison casserole..

About the Author

Charity Norman was born in Uganda and brought up in successive draughty vicarages in Yorkshire and Birmingham. After several years' travel she became a barrister, specialising in crime and family law. In 2002 realising that her three children had barely met her, she took a break from the law and moved with her family to New Zealand. See You in September is Charity's fifth novel.

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My thanks to Kate at Allen &Unwin for the opportunity to read and review 

See You in September 

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