1929. In a summer cottage on Pebble Lake, somewhere in Ontario, A Summer’s Tale is a coming-of-age story of dysfunction, love, friendship, redemption and disturbing brutality.

Almost eleven-year-old Danny Buckingham escapes the sad nightmare of his family life in the old wardrobe at the top of the attic stairs or in the boathouse. In love with language – his friends call him “Professor” – and immersed in his rich imagination, he daydreams and reads voraciously.

One day, trying to avoid the nastiness of his older brother, David, and Danny’s equally nasty twin, James, he visits his favourite hideaway: a meadow close to the cottage. There, he encounters an abused little girl, Leah. The ensuing horror makes his lonely life pale in comparison.