Review by Ian Keogh

Summer Fires is Giulia Sagramola’s look at those days on the cusp of adulthood, where school is ending and the future is uncertain, but the potential immense. Rachel and Sabrina live in a small rural Italian town nestled in the hills. Their father is strict and overly protective, and one of their friends is pregnant at sixteen. Rachel has a boyfriend, Stef.

The fire on the hillside acts as a metaphor for Sagramola’s slow burn approach to drama, which by the look of the phones and the soundtrack is set during the 1990s. That would roughly correspond to Sagramola’s own age back then. While it seems there’s not a lot going on to begin with, we’re actually coming to know the primary cast and their attitudes. It also introduces two mysteries. Who set the fire on the hillside and who’s sending Rachel messages calling her sister a slut?

Simple and attractive art sets the scene and establishes the location, with the combination of black, white and orange eye-catching and the way that the colour changes with the months is thoughtful. However, there’s one shortcoming: Sagramola’s people look very similar. It means that when a big moment arrives readers aren’t sure whether Stef is just watching from teenage curiosity, or whether readers are seeing a character already introduced, which is later confirmed to be the case.

As the fires pick up, so does the emotional tension, which is all very well observed in a manner that should appeal to fans of Sally Rooney’s Normal People. It’s the time honoured treatment of teenage expectations from a partner butting up against reality as time passes and the need to commit to decisions approaches. Just like the fires on the hillside, this doesn’t expand into something massive, but concentrates on mood and feeling throughout, and as such is a charming experience, well told with a deep emotional undercurrent.