Summer of '42 by Herman Raucher

Decades ago when I was in my early twenties and in a Harold Robbins-Sidney Sheldon-Robert Ludlum-Alistair Maclean phase a friend gave me a copy of ‘Summer of '42’ by Herman Raucher. It remained unread for nearly a decade and half because I thought it wouldn’t be so interesting whatever my friend might have told me. When I finally read it, (why, I don’t know) I realized how incredibly stupid I had been to have not read that gem of a book for so long. But having read it I experienced a strange tender feeling that overcomes me whenever I happen to see the cover of the book. It takes its place in a separate shelf I have filled with my favorite titles that I treasure and never let go out of my sight.

For several years it was the only copy I had. My friend did not ask for it, and I did not want to return it to her. I found a second copy at Abids that had the same cover. I do not remember now when I found this second copy. But sometime in July of 2010 I found my third copy of this classic. This too had the same cover and I got it for just twenty rupees.

Over the years I reread ‘Summer of '42’ several times, and I reread it only recently a couple of months back and experienced the same feelings I had when I read it the first time decades back.