PAULLINA SIMONS
THE SUMMER
GARDEN
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2006
Copyright © Paullina Simons 2005
Besame Mucho Written by Consuelo Velasquez © 1941 & 1943 P.H.A.M., Mexico Latin-American Music Pub. Co. Ltd, London. Used by permission
Paullina Simons asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007162499
Ebook Edition © MARCH 2015 ISBN: 9780007390816
Version: 2017-09-25
For Kevin, my own mystic guide
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down,Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst …For there, they that carried us awaycaptive required of us a song,And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,Sing us one of the songs of Zion.How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?Psalm 137
The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.The Song of Solomon
Contents
Book One: The Land of Lupine and Lotus
Chapter Two: Coconut Grove, 1947
Chapter Three: Paradise Valley, 1947
Chapter Five: Bethel Island, 1948
Chapter Six: Jane Barrington, 1948
First Interlude: Saika Kantorova, 1938
Chapter Seven: Conjugal Compromises
Chapter Eight: The House that Balkman Built
Second Interlude: The Queen of Spades
Chapter Nine: The Five-Year Plan
Chapter Eleven: Blue Christmas
Chapter Thirteen: The Summer Garden
Chapter Fourteen: The Man on the Moon
Chapter Fifteen: The Queen of Lake Ilmen
Chapter Sixteen: In the Heart of Vietnam
Chapter Seventeen: Kings and Heroes