Ann Patchett, in my experience from reading Commonwealth and The Dutch House, is a queen of narratives centered around relationships, and Tom Lake is no exception.
Set on a cherry orchard in Northern Michigan in the spring of 2020, Lara is coaxed by her three grown daughters to, once again, regale them with the tale of the time she dated the late, great actor Peter Duke. The story weaves through their work and days – the days that are only populated by their family on the farm – and relationships are discovered and maybe even healed through the telling of her story.
Through the re-telling, Lara navigates what to share with her daughters, balancing her position of protector as their mother with the knowledge that they are grown adults, and navigating the introspection she is processing and the vulnerability that comes with it.
While the story focuses on Lara, and eventually her relationship with Peter Duke, I found it to be a sweet story of the relationships between mothers and daughters, and a glimpse into the moment when kids start to see their parents as people – people with a life and history that precedes them.
My threshold for Covid-centric stories is very low. I abandoned a story last year because I realized it was set within the pandemic, and I have no interest (at least not yet) of bringing that mess into my world of fiction. So although this story is set in the spring of 2020, and Covid-19 is the reason the girls have returned home to complete the harvest that hired laborers no longer can, I didn’t mind the crossover. Instead, it was reminiscent of my own experience – living under the same roof with all my siblings for three months for the first time in a long time.
It was a sweet, beautiful story that was a pleasure to sink into. The audiobook is narrated by Meryl Streep and, as with everything Meryl does, it is magnificent.
2% Rating: 8/10
Recommend? Definitely
Re-Read? Probably
Time: 1:45