Long After Summer

Our NARRATOR is a middle-aged bachelor who leads a simple but contented life. He enjoys his long summers spent on Cape Cod. Having long since abandoned the “deeper feelings” of youth, his solitary life is altered when JOHANNA, a lonely teenage girl, is sent to care for him during a sudden illness. Johanna is a timid and utterly lonely orphan, sent to live with her relatives on a temporary basis. She blossoms under the tutelage of our narrator, learning for the first time about friendship, tenderness, and love. She even begins a wonderfully sweet and innocent romance with a local boy her age. Eventually, tragedy strikes when the boy dies in a boating accident. Our Narrator watches with growing concern as Johanna lives in a state of denial, reliving the events of the summer, backward, in her own mind. As he and a well-intentioned local priest struggle to help her, our narrator realizes that his true feelings for Johanna run much deeper. Esteemed author, Robert Nathan has woven a heartfelt story of innocence, tragedy, and, his most popular theme, the enduring power of love.