Home » Resources » Culture Connections

Snowy Summer: Book Review

1st November 2018

What would a novel by a Christian sexologist be like? How many sex scenes would there be and how would they be described? 

I had read Patricia Weerakoon's previous novel, Empire’s Children, and enjoyed it as a gentle romance between a wealthy British plantation owner and the daughter of the tea-maker. It was set in Sri Lanka, the country of the author’s birth and in a tea plantation much like her own father’s. 

Snowy Summer reflects much more of Australia, the country that is now her home, and is strengthened by a more complex plot with more suspense. Patricia has crafted a story about Annie, a young Australian girl who had emigrated from Sri Lanka. Annie is engaged to a Sri Lankan man that she and her family expect her to marry. Within the first chapter, doubts are cast over this marriage and the story moves swiftly to include much unravelling of secrets and exploration of the main characters’ lives. The setting is mainly around Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains, which is accurately and charmingly described, due to her frequent visits there and her husband’s passion for bushwalking in the national park. Her detailed research into both the landscape and the communities give the story an authenticity which even Snowy locals may find difficult to fault.

The wholesome romance – without lurid or unnecessary sexual descriptions – delighted me and it had enough twists to make the ending less predictable than Empire’s Children. The intrigue gradually unfolded and kept my interest to the last page. It is not an overtly Christian novel, but has some positive references to church and Christian radio and Annie’s commitment to reserve sexual intimacy for marriage is respected.

Patricia is more well-known in academic and Christian circles as a woman who has researched, published and continues to present on many aspects of sexuality, including 23 years as lecturer at the University of Sydney. She is not afraid to speak frankly and yet beautifully about God’s gift to married couples, and to address many of the pressures facing children and young people in today’s sex-obsessed world. She has written books for several age groups and a recent resource for parents Birds and the Bees by the Book was reviewed by Lisa Yew in the March 2018 ACCatalyst.

If you are looking for a wholesome romance/mystery novel that would suit teenage to mature-age readers, I recommend Snowy Summer.

Anne Weeks is a secretary of the NSW ACC Movement and is married to Rev. Ian Weeks, minister at Belrose UC.

Leave a comment