Seen Dimly Before Dawn — Nigel Balchin

Walter Parrish is fifteen, handsome, athletic and highly intelligent. But his head is also stuffed full of ideas gleaned from romantic poetry and so, when he spends the summer on his uncle Patrick's fruit farm, it is perhaps not surprising that he quickly becomes besotted with Patrick's bewitching partner, Leonie. And when Leonie reveals that she is not married to Patrick, but is only his mistress, Walter realizes that his hopeless passion may not be quite as hopeless as he first thought. So he embarks upon a scheme to prise Leonie away from Patrick, only to discover that Leonie is playing a much deadlier game, one that could have life-changing consequences for both her and Walter.Set in the glorious Kent countryside in high summer, and told with all Nigel Balchin's consummate skill as a storyteller, Seen Dimly Before Dawn is a richly enjoyable novel about adolescence, love, loss and the vast gulf that separates a child's view of the world from an adult's.Praise for Seen Dimly Before Dawn: 'the story pounds along eagerly with all senses alert' - New Statesman 'excellent' - Sunday Times'thoroughly readable and consistently entertaining' - The Times