Friday's Forgotten Books

The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone by Matt Cohen
First published: 1979
Nominated for the Governor General's Award

I recently picked up my old copy of this book, but wasn't sure why. I originally read The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone for a university course and promptly fell in love with everything Matt Cohen. But I haven't read anything by him for several years now.

The Sweet Second Summer takes place in a fictional town in eastern Ontario, near Kingston. I'll be near Kingston in August, and I think that's what brought this book to mind.

Anyway...The Sweet Second Summerr is the story of two fringy characters, Kitty Malone and Pat Frank, who're looking for happiness and actually kind of find it. Kitty and Pat finally figure out how to mesh their past and present. Matt Cohen writes great characters, great scenery, great atmosphere.

Here's partly why I'm headed to the Kingston area (except for the winter part!) (from page 114 of the Bantom Seal version):

"Looking through it (the air above the burning tip of a cigarette) he could see the whole flat surface of the lake stretching miles in front of him, so smooth and icy-serene it could have been a giant eye frozen and buried in earth and rock. And the trees around the lake were like dark green lashes, thick and tipped with snow..."

Matt Cohen died of lung cancer in 1999. He was private, prolific (publishing over 20 novels). Weeks before his death, he won the Governor General's Award for Elizabeth and After. After his death, it was revealed that he wrote several children's books under the name Teddy Jam.

I'm happy to be participating in Patti Abbott's Friday's Forgotten Books. Please visit Patti's blog for book posts and for links to the other participants. I noticed Lesa's Books Critiques also reviews a Canadian novel.

Also, there's a surprise post by a bestselling author on the Class of 2k8's blog.