The Summer Book

Sophia wakes up on an April night. Her family has recently come back to the island, and she is sleeping alone because her mother has passed away. She gets out of bed and looks out the window at the black ice covering the sea, noticing the two reflections of the fire in the room in the window. She looks through another window, and the reflection appears on the ground, and in a third window, she sees the room reflected, making it look as if the trunks are filled with moss, grass, and snow. She sees two of herself, one with a tree growing through her. She lays in bed and imagines the floor opening into a channel which the luggage floats away through.

Sophia wakes her Grandmother and tells her she saw double reflections, and Grandmother explains that’s because the windows have double panes. Sophia asks if the door is closed, but Grandmother says it is open and that Sophia can sleep easy. Sophia snuggles into the quilt and imagines the island floating on the ice and, as she falls asleep, Father adds more wood to the fire.

The magic forest is a patch of dead forest filled with twisted and broken trees that runs along an outer edge of the island. Within the tangle of trees lives a variety of wildlife. When the family first came to the island, they attempted to clear the magic forest, and although Grandmother knew it would not work, she let them try. After the family gave up trying to change the forest, Grandmother crawled into the thicket, laid down, and rested. The rest of the island was cleaned and landscaped, and people, except for farmers and guests, avoided walking on the moss, which was delicate and died if it was stepped on too frequently. Similarly, eider ducks refuse to return to their nest if you scare them three times. In July, the moss blooms with white flowers, so it resembles a meadow.

Grandmother goes to the magic forest, where she carves abstract animals from dead branches and pieces of driftwood. She also collects bones, including a large whale vertebra, which she adds to her collection of art in the magic forest. Sophia sees Grandmother’s work in the forest and begins helping her find bones to add to the collection. She finds a seal skull, and they wait until sunset to place it in the forest, so that it glows with the colors of the setting sun. Sophia becomes suddenly disturbed and screams for Grandmother to get rid of the skull, and Grandmothers holds Sophia until she calms and falls asleep. Although she often returns to the forest, Grandmother makes her carvings while sitting on the veranda.

Grandmother wakes up in the early morning hours, and it is freezing in her room. She covers herself with coats and a rag rug, but it does not help, so she gets up and goes outside. The island is covered in fog, and she hears the mating cries of scolders—long-tailed ducks—on nearby islands. Grandmother sees the birds as symbols of “anticipation and renewal” because their behaviors coincide with the changing seasons (16). Grandmother, who is staying in a small separate house, goes to the cottage where Sophia and her father stay and wakes Sophia, who joins Grandmother. They walk along the island, which is covered in debris because they have not had a chance to clean the island yet this year.

When the sun rises, Sophia and Grandmother see a dead scolder, and Sophia is upset because her grandmother told her that the scolders are “brand new and just married” (17). She asks how the bird died, and Grandmother tells her the bird died of a broken heart. Sophia knows that is not the truth and demands Grandmother tell her the real story. The scolder was not paying attention while singing, Grandmother explains, and he ran into a rock and died.

They walk to a sandy area and lie down, but Sophia wants something to do, so Grandmother sends her to find things that have drifted to shore and promises that she won’t get bored lying alone. Grandmother watches a down feather caught in the grass and a piece of bark next to it. Sophia returns, excited because she has found a floor grate from a ship. Grandmother says she found a scolder down, but Sophia has forgotten about the dead scolder.

Sophia invites Herdice Evelyn, who goes by Pipsan, to the cottage. Pipsan is fearful and uncomfortable, and Sophia decides to protect her and to refer to her as “Berenice” when talking to Grandmother. Berenice sleeps in the guestroom, which, as an addition, is much different from the rest of the house.

One day, Sophia complains that Berenice is scared of ants, and Grandmother advises her to take Berenice out in the boat where there are no ants. Afterward, Grandmother admires a painting in her room of a hermit and a lion; Sophia believes the lion is a threat, but Grandmother thinks it is protecting the hermit. Berenice is intimidated by the close-knit family, and Sophia is uncomfortable with Berenice’s presence.

Sophia pushes Berenice into the water, and Berenice’s hair reacts badly to the saltwater. Since Sophia likes Berenice because of her attractive hair, Sophia no longer wants to be around her friend. Grandmother finds Berenice hiding in the potato patch. She wants to help Berenice feel better, but knows Berenice is too young to understand Grandmother’s empathy. Instead, Grandmother pretends a nearby boat is filled with bad men coming to bother them, and she tells Berenice to follow her to a hiding spot. Sophia finds Grandmother and Berenice playing with tadpoles, and Berenice says they are hiding and won’t let anyone bother them. Running away but keeping an eye on them, Sophia feels the island is shrinking.

Tired, Grandmother leaves to take a nap, and she tells Berenice, who does not want Grandmother to go, to draw a terrible picture. Sophia comes to Grandmother’s window, and Grandmother tells her what Berenice is doing. Sophia returns three times with pictures she has drawn—a screaming child with bad hair covered in ants, a child being hit in the head with a rock, and a shipwreck—then Berenice pushes her drawing of a “creature with a black hole for a face” (30) under Grandmother’s door. Grandmother is impressed and tells Berenice the drawing is good, then Berenice goes out to throw rocks and walk out to the point.

After Sophia sees Berenice’s drawing, she asks Grandmother if Berenice can draw, and Grandmother replies no and that she is “one of those people who do one good thing and then that’s the end of it" (31).