First Summer

“An intimate story of self-discovery.” —Orhan Pamuk A dreamy debut novel about the summer love that changes two girls at the edge of adulthood.“In the heat and the green haze that seemed to surround us both like a physical presence, I felt intensely awake.” One afternoon at the start of summer, a teenage girl watches a new girl move in across the street. In Clara, she recognizes the same loneliness that she feels herself, but finds tenderness and laughter, too. Over hot, languid days spent talking and reading side by side in the garden, the narrator is awakened to the possibility of a true connection with another human being, free of the self-consciousness she feels with others. Meanwhile, in a distant fictional galaxy, Nadia the space explorer—the protagonist of a childhood book series beloved by both girls—traverses the known universe with her companion Rosa. Their imagined adventures make sense of new and powerful feelings. First Summer captures the innocence and agony of adolescenc