Now a New York Times Bestseller From the author of the beloved bestseller Garden Spells comes a beautiful, haunting story of old loves and new, and the power of the connections that bind us forever The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.That was … it, she knew she was seeing her future.
That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that’s left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.
It’s a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.
Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve, before she learned of loneliness, and heartbreak, and loss. Now she’s all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope too, thanks to her resilient daughter Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.
One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren’t sure they needed in the first place: love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended. Can they find what they need before it’s too late?
At once atmospheric and enchanting, Lost Lake shows Sarah Addison Allen at her finest, illuminating the secret longings and the everyday magic that wait to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.
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a southern novel with a light touch of magical realism
I am a Sarah Addison fan so do follow her. This was another interesting book. I would recommend it.
Predictable but entertaining for a light read.
I loved reading this book! Sarah Addison Allen has a wonderful way with words. The story and it’s characters captured my heart. I enjoyed the touches of magic. I am in the process of reading all her other books.
Sarah Addison Allen’s “Lost Lake” is really one of the most enjoyable low-keyed novels I have read in a long time. The storyline begins as a charming romance with Epy and George on their honeymoon in Paris. The reader learns that Epy comes from a long line of women marrying for money, only to miss the mark. While Epy married for love, George happened to inherit money as well, thus keeping the couple in Europe hiding from the list of money grabbing family awaiting them at home.
The story leaps forward in time to Epy’s great niece’s “awakening” from a year of mourning for her much beloved husband, Mark. During the year since Mark’s death, Kate has “slept walked” through her life barely managing the care of their daughter, Devine, while slowly allowing Mark’s mother to gain control of her life and that of her daughter. Kate “woke up” only to discover all of her and her daughter’s possessions packed and ready to be moved into the house with her former mother-in-law. As Devine rambles through the last trunks of old clothes in the attic playing a game of “dress-up” which her parents heartedly approve and her grandmother detests, she discovers an old postcard from her great-aunt Epy inviting Kate to visit her at any time at the Lost Lake campgrounds in South Georgia. Kate remembers a magical trip there as the end of her childhood, and never knew of the invitation to return. Kate and Devine realize that to continue to leave the reins of their lives in the hands of poor dead Mark’s mother would be to give up on all their dreams, quickly grab a few necessities…and as many as possible of Devine’s costumes…and head out for Lost Lake.
It is here that the “real” story begins as Allen re-introduces the fifty-year older Epy, grieving the lost of her beloved George and the world they created for themselves when just back from their honeymoon the grasping hands of greedy relatives caused them to buy the Lost Lake campgrounds and give the rest of their
money away. Now, with the campground failing and no money to keep it up, Epy faces leaving the place that she and George had filled with so much love. Allen gradually brings into the story people from George and Epy’s life, people Epy remembers from her wonderfully magical summer there, and people who give back to Devine the childhood she lost as her mother “sleep-walked” grieving for her dead husband. The story is full of gentle surprises and magical mystical charms that make the work enchanting and a wonderful, wonderful read for all those who read for pure pleasure and enjoy a marvelously crafted storyline.
Not her best but an easy summer read. Pretty predictable
her books are always just beautiful and take you to magical places.
I love this author.
Have read everything She has written!!!
I am a huge fan of Sarah Addison Allen. I’ve read all of her books, and let me tell you–her words are magical. Every time I read her writing, I’m inspired and entertained.
Let me tell you why I love Sarah Addison Allen’s books so much. Each of her characters are vitally important to the story. There are no cardboard characters. Allen draws them each, intimately and with their own subtle captivating powers. Her novels are like exotic imported dark chocolate with a taste so tantalizing you want to devour it in one sitting but you pace yourself, savoring each bite, forcing yourself to wait while the flavor melts in your mouth igniting something strange and powerful within. Once the last piece is gone–the last page has been read, the words are left floating in the air, haunting you with Allen’s stories. And you love them so much, you welcome those ghosts of words to stay forever.
If you’ve never tasted Allen’s words, you can do so easily right now because she has a prequel novella for free on Amazon. I read Waking Kate in one sitting and couldn’t wait to get my hands on Lost Lake.
I received the beautiful hardcover of Lost Lake for my birthday and thoroughly enjoyed that gift! I loved this story and I feel like this author improves with each book. I’ll admit, I’m jealous at how beautifully she can craft a story with a bit of mystery, love, and magic.
I’m a little shocked, but I actually did not like this book. It had some of the whimsy of her other work, but none of the lyrical pacing