Farewell Summer

The master of American fiction returns to the territory of his beloved classic, Dandelion Wine—a sequel 50 years in the makingSome summers refuse to end . . . October 1st, the end of summer. The air is still warm, but fall is in the air. Thirteen-year-old Douglas Spaulding, his younger brother Tom, and their friends do their best to take advantage of these last warm days, rampaging through the ravine, tormenting the girls . . . and declaring war on the old men who run Green Town, IL. For the boys know that Colonel Quartermain and his cohorts want nothing more than to force them to put away their wild ways, to settle down, to grow up. If only, the boys believe, they could stop the clock atop the courthouse building. Then, surely, they could hold onto the last days of summer . . . and their youth. But the old men were young once, too. And Quartermain, crusty old guardian of the school board and town curfew, is bent on teaching the boys a lesson. What he doesn’t know is that before the last leaf turns, the boys will give him a gift: they will teach him the importance of not being afraid of letting go.

Chicago Sun-Times

“[B]eautiful imagery and well-crafted prose.”

Kirkus Reviews

“An intriguing coda to one of Bradbury’s classics. ”

Library Journal

“Creepier than [Dandelion Wine] but retains the elegiac tone and lovely descriptions of 1920s boyhood.”

Booklist

“A touching meditation on memories, aging, and the endless cycle of birth and death.”

Publishers Weekly

“Poignant, wise...Bradbury’s mature but fresh return to his beloved early writing conveys a depth of feeling.”

Rocky Mountain News

“Bradbury remains a master of inspired storytelling . . . The long-awaited, rewarding conclusion to an American classic.”

From the Back Cover

In the deceiving warmth of earliest October, civil war has come to Green Town, Illinois, an age-old conflict pitting the young against the elderly for control of the clock that ticks their lives ever forward. The graying forces of school board despot Mr. Calvin C. Quartermain have declared total war on thirteen-year-old Douglas Spaulding and his downy-cheeked cohorts. The boys, in turn, plan and execute daring campaigns, matching old Quartermain's experience and cunning with their youthful enthusiasm and devil-may-care determination to hold on forever to childhood's summer. Yet time must ultimately be the victor, as life waits in ambush to assail young Spaulding with its powerful mysteries—the irresistible ascent of manhood, the sweet surrender of a first kiss . . .

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Farewell SummerBy Ray BradburyHarperCollins Publishers, Inc.Copyright ©2007 Ray BradburyAll right reserved.ISBN: 9780061131554Chapter OneThere are those days which seem a taking in of breath which, held, suspends the whole earth in its waiting. Some summers refuse to end.So along the road those flowers spread that, when touched, give down a shower of autumn rust. By every path it looks as if a ruined circus had passed and loosed a trail of ancient iron at every turning of a wheel. The rust was laid out everywhere, strewn under trees and by riverbanks and near the tracks themselves where once a locomotive had gone but went no more. So flowered flakes and railroad track together turned to moulderings upon the rim of autumn."Look, Doug," said Grandpa, driving into town from the farm. Behind them in the Kissel Kar were six large pumpkins picked fresh from the patch. "See those flowers?""Yes, sir.""Farewell summer, Doug. That's the name of those flowers. Feel the air? August come back. Farewell summer.""Boy," said Doug, "that's a sad name."Grandma stepped into her pantry and felt the wind blowing from the west. The yeast was rising in the bowl, a sumptuous head, the head of an alien rising from the yield of other years. She touched the swell beneath the muslin cap. It was the earth on the morn before the arrival of Adam. It was the morn after the marriage of Eve to that stranger in the garden bed.Grandma looked out the window at the way the sunlight lay across the yard and filled the apple trees with gold and echoed the same words:"Farewell summer. Here it is, October 1st. Temperature's 82. Season just can't let go. The dogs are out under the trees. The leaves won't turn. A body would like to cry and laughs instead. Get up to the attic, Doug, and let the mad maiden aunt out of the secret room.""Is there a mad maiden aunt in the attic?" asked Doug."No, but there should be." Clouds passed over the lawn. And when the sun came out, in the pantry, Grandma almost whispered, Summer, farewell.On the front porch, Doug stood beside his grandfather, hoping to borrow some of that far sight, beyond the hills, some of the wanting to cry, some of the ancient joy. The smell of pipe tobacco and Tiger shaving tonic had to suffice. A top spun in his chest, now light, now dark, now moving his tongue with laughter, now filling his eyes with salt water.He surveyed the lake of grass below, all the dandelions gone, a touch of rust in the trees, and the smell of Egypt blowing from the far east."Think I'll go eat me a doughnut and take me a nap," Doug said.Continues...Excerpted from Farewell Summerby Ray Bradbury Copyright ©2007 by Ray Bradbury. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

About the Author

In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create. A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time. His groundbreaking works include Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. An Emmy Award winner for his teleplay The Halloween Tree and an Academy Award nominee, he was the recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, among many honors.

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