title: Gold In The Days of Summer: A Novella
author:  Susan Pogorzelski 
description: "It's the summer of 1979, Annie's 13th birthday is approaching, and change is in the sweltering air--none of it welcome. It's Annie's first summer without her best friend Ava, who is away at camp; the Vietnam veteran who lives next door, a confidante and adviser, is moving away; Connor, her neighborhood crush, seems smitten by the new girl moving into the vet's house; and her grandmother is sinking into dementia, something her parents try to shield her from. Annie's soulful attempts to sort things out are insightful and realistically muddled. Pogorzelski captures the sense of a girl holding onto the last days of a waning childhood--Annie prefers her memory-stained old sneakers to a new back-to-school pair, and she pans for gold in the local creek, which holds only rocks ("maybe everything was gold if you just looked at it the right way")--but who also recognizes that her life is at a turning point and that she's growing up. Relatable family dynamics enrich this promising debut." -<b> <i>Publisher's Weekly</i></b><br /><br /><span>"A beautifully observed snapshot that brings the angst of youthful thoughts to the fore, Pogorzelski's characters simply come to life as she creates picture perfect images of her young protagonist's summer of change... Captured in flowing prose, we are reminded of the different spheres we inhabit as children, often adrift in the orbit of older siblings and parents as we make sense of the world into which we evolve... A timeless telling with all the hallmarks of a classic, <i>Gold In The Days Of Summer</i>, is a superb example of a novella and is recommended without reservation." - <b><i>BookViral </i></b></span><br /><br />An excellent, well-written and atmospheric story that looks at growing up, family life, love and understanding. The book is suitable for the older child/young teenager, and while there is no great adventure here, it has a charm that keeps you turning the pages. - <b><i>International Rubery Book Award, Children's Category Winner</i></b><br /><br />2015 Children's Fiction category finalist -<i> <b>International Book Awards</b></i>
zlib_text: _This is for Florence Kim McBride_
  
   **Table of Contents**
  
  Cover Page
  
  Dedication
  
  Part One New Gold Mountain
  
  > Chapter One
  
  > Chapter Two
  
  > Chapter Three
  
  > Chapter Four
  
  > Chapter Five
  
  > Chapter Six
  
  > Chapter Seven
  
  Part Two To Stand Truly by Each Other
  
  > Chapter Eight
  
  > Chapter Nine
  
  > Chapter Ten
  
  > Chapter Eleven
  
  > Chapter Twelve
  
  > Chapter Thirteen
  
  Part Three The Lamp of the Wicked
  
  > Chapter Fourteen
  
  > Chapter Fifteen
  
  > Chapter Sixteen
  
  > Chapter Seventeen
  
  > Chapter Eighteen
  
  > Chapter Nineteen
  
  Acknowledgements
  
  Copyright
  
  About the Publisher
  
   **Part One**  
   **New Gold Mountain**
  
   **Chapter One**
  
   _ **Melbourne, August 1854**_  
    
  
   **A** s surreptitiously as he could, Daniel Royce gazed down the long table
  at the woman he loved more than anything else in his life. The woman he had
  silently but passionately adored for the past fifteen years, the woman his
  heart had bade him follow to the ends of the earth. The woman who,
  unfortunately, was utterly devoted to so