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, the narrator recognises 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 children's 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 adolescence and the exquisite promise of love on the cusp of adulthood: a moment where fantasy is still vivid in the mind. This story of the first summer of love echoes throughout the characters’ lives and will change them forever.

© 2026 Simon & Schuster Audio UK (Audiobook): 9781398551619

Release date

Audiobook: 21 May 2026