The Gypsy Moth Summer

A Novel

By: Julia Fierro

Narrated by: Christa Lewis

It is the summer of 1992 and a gypsy moth invasion blankets Avalon Island. Ravenous caterpillars disrupt early summer serenity on Avalon, an islet off the coast of Long Island - dropping onto novels left open on picnic blankets, crawling across the T-shirts of children playing games of tag and capture the flag. The caterpillars become a relentless topic of island conversation and the inescapable soundtrack of the season.

It is also the summer Leslie Day Marshall - only daughter of Avalon's most prominent family - returns with her husband, a botanist, and their children to live in "The Castle", the island's grandest estate. Leslie's husband Jules is African-American, and their children biracial, and islanders from both sides of the tracks form fast and dangerous opinions about the new arrivals.

Maddie Pencott LaRosa straddles those tracks: a teen queen with roots in the tony precincts of East Avalon and the crowded working class corner of West Avalon, home to Grudder Aviation factory, the island's bread-and-butter. Maddie falls in love with Brooks, Leslie's and Jules's son, and that love feels as urgent to Maddie as the questions about the new and deadly cancers showing up across the island. Could Grudder Aviation, the pride of the island - and its patriarch, the Colonel - be to blame?

©2017 Julia Fierro (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The novel's late depictions of Maddie's anxious relationship with her family hit hard, giving the narrative a savage momentum." ( New York Times)

Half the novel is missing

In this audible version, half the novel is missing. The written version has several more chapters and yet there is no indication that the audible is an abridged version.

Great read and very enjoyable characters, but the book feels like it was only half written!

I was drawn in and got to know and like many of the characters only to have it end abruptly with no resolution to anything at all. What a let down!

Complete audiobook now available!!

"Complete audiobook now available!!"
The audiobook was originally only 50% uploaded - hopefully earlier listeners will delete their original downloads and re-download the entire content.

The book is now available in its entirety

What the heck

It ended in the middle of the story. So disappointed. I loved it till the end which really wasn’t the end.