Natalya Evdokimova is not the most famous writer, but she is one of the most talented. The closest person she can be compared to is perhaps the Swedish author Maria Parr, who wrote "Waffle Hearts" (which, if you aren't aware, is arguably the biggest young adult hit of the last decade). Natalya Evdokimova similarly has the ability to take the canvas of an everyday story about the lives of ordinary people and create a subtle psychological portrait of her teenage characters, and she does so with extraordinary humor.
"Summer Smells Like Salt" is a collection of stories about trips to the seaside; the plot of each is non-trivial, and each story is a little life—after all, every trip to the sea is a little life itself. Beyond the maritime backdrop, there is something else they have in common. The characters set off for the sea with varying degrees of enthusiasm, in different company, and with a variety of adventures, but the sea is such that no one has ever returned from it as the same person they were on the day they arrived.
Furthermore, the sea and youth go together wonderfully, and often this magical combination gives birth to infatuation. So, all these stories are about teenagers in love, and even if the characters themselves don't realize it yet, the reader can clearly see what kind of feeling is budding against the backdrop of sea landscapes, and why the waves suddenly seem gentler, the sand yellower, the wind fresher, and the cries of the seagulls more musical... All of this is described with excellent taste, cheerfulness, and self-irony—zero suffering, zero sentimentality. Because why should they, these teenagers, suffer? They know their own worth and will find their place in the sun. Especially by the sea...
"Summer Smells Like Salt" is for readers 12+
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