The Summer of the Great Secret is the second book in the Romney Marsh series of novels by Monica Edwards

Monica Edwards

Monica Edwards was an English children's writer of the mid-twentieth century best known for her Romney Marsh and Punchbowl Farm series of children's novels.-Early life:...

, published in 1948 by Collins

HarperCollins

HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

. Tamzin and Rissa become entangled with the nefarious smuggling activities of the Westling fishermen. Many people try to persuade the girls to reveal their identities but they remain loyal to their friends.

It was in this book that the writer introduced many of the characters who would reappear throughout the Romney Marsh series, for instance the fishermen Hookey Galley, Walter Goddard and Thomas Upjohn; and the village grocer Smiling Morn. They were all based on real-life characters who Monica Edwards

Monica Edwards

Monica Edwards was an English children's writer of the mid-twentieth century best known for her Romney Marsh and Punchbowl Farm series of children's novels.-Early life:...

 knew when she lived in the village of Rye Harbour

Rye Harbour

Rye Harbour is a village located on the East Sussex coast in southeast England, near the estuary of the River Rother: it is part of the civil parish of Icklesham. Rye Harbour is located some two miles downstream of the town of Rye....

as a child.

Subsequent editions

• Collins Crown Library - 1953
• Collins Seagull Library - 1953, 1958
• Collins Laurel and Gold - 1958, 1960
• Armada Paperback - 1965 (abridged))