Emylia Hall

The daughter of an English artist and a Hungarian quilt-maker, Emylia Hall muses that she ‘always loved reading and writing as a child, and wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember’. However, following a degree in English & Related Literature at the universities of York and Lausanne, Hall spent five years working in a busy advertising agency in London. But a move to France, and a change of pace, encouraged her to realign her priorities. After working in a ski resort in the Alps she finally succumbed to her passions and decided to take the plunge and dedicate her time to writing: ‘I'm forever indebted to the high peaks of the Portes du Soleil for giving me the time and space to gently find my way with words.’

The Book of Summers is the result of that decisive moment. Beth Lowe receives a parcel. Inside is a letter and a scrapbook; the scrapbook is entitled ‘The Book of Summers’, and the letter informs her that her long-estranged mother had died. Within the book rest photos of the seven summers Beth spent with her mother in Hungary; all of them perfect, except the last. Hall remarks, ‘It’s about the lies we tell, the truths we keep and, above all, the ways we find to keep on loving one another.’ 

Visit Emylia Hall’s website here.