I spent my Easter weekend with a pretty bad cold, but on the upside I had plenty of time to catch up on my reading. I finished The Lake House by Kate Morton which is our first book in our virtual book club and the first book I’ve read from this author. I thought she had a very descriptive way of writing which really put you there, you could vividly see what she was describing so I really enjoyed learning about Cornwall.
The book follows the characters of the wealthy Edevane family as their lives are turned upside down when their youngest coveted only son, Theo, disappears without a trace during their annual Midsummer party in 1933. Without any leads or explanations of the boy’s disappearance, the family moves on and abandons their home, Loeanneth. Seventy years later, Detective Sadie Sparrow stumbles upon the abandon house while on voluntarily leave with the London police. She was hiding out of her grandfather’s cottage when she re-opened the Edevane’s cold case. She was determined to find out what happened that night at the lake house and what really happen to baby Theo. Alice Edevane always blamed herself for the part she played in her brother’s disappearance that night, she never told a soul. She grew up to be a famous writer of crime novels and carried this secret with her until she received a letter from a detective requesting access to the Loeanneth.
My favorite character in the book is Eleanor Edevane. She was the rock of the Edevane family, but more importantly, she was the most real character in the book. As a young child Eleanor was willful, headstrong, adventurous and didn’t want to be the debutant that her social climbing cold mother, Constance, wanted her to be. She feel in love with a man that saved her life and she kept a secret promise she had made to him until the day she died even at the cost of her own happiness and freedom. A true mother’s sacrifice to keep the family together so that her children would grow up and not be burden by life’s awful truths. She was also a flawed character, but you forgave her for it because you felt that she was a prisoner in her own life.
The book had several twists and turns, but as a reader of mysteries, you understood where she was headed. For me, the beginning of the book dragged on a bit. The author switched between characters in different points of their lives that sometimes it was hard to understand how they all fit or why it was relevant, maybe that was the purpose, but if you weren’t able to sit down to read for a good length of time, jumping back to where you left off took some time. Also, the details of young Sadie Sparrow’s life altering event didn’t really tie in until it resurface in her adult life when the past came looking for her. The author described the Edevane’s dynamics so clearly that when it came to Sadie’s life, it was a bit thrown in as an explanation. And the ending, although a good one, I felt it was a bit far fetched, too coincidential to be believable.
Overall, I give this book a solid 8 on a rating scale of 1-10. It wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read nor the worst. This nearly 600 page book was written in a lovely tone and by the end it had become a page turner, but it may have taken too long to get there for my taste.
Who was your favorite character? What parts did you like? Which parts did you dislike? I would love to know your thoughts on the book, so share your comments below!
The next book on our list: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman