The Lake of Dreams

Lucy Jarrett returns to her hometown of Lake of Dreams after years away, drawn back by her mother's injury and unsettled by her own life circumstances. During her visit to her childhood home, she discovers old letters and documents hidden in a window seat that hint at a long-buried family mystery. The discovery leads Lucy on a search through her family's past, particularly focused on a suffragette relative whose story was erased from the family narrative. Her investigation spans both local history and her own memories of growing up in the Finger Lakes region of New York, including the drowning death of her father when she was a teenager. As Lucy pursues answers about her family's past, she must navigate complicated relationships with her mother, her brother Blake, and her first love Keegan Fall. The story moves between past and present as she uncovers layers of family secrets while wrestling with decisions about her own future. The Lake of Dreams examines how buried histories shape present lives and explores themes of women's rights across generations. The novel connects personal and political histories while questioning how family stories are preserved or lost over time.

Readers report slower pacing and less emotional impact compared to Edwards' previous novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Many found the family mystery and historical elements engaging, but felt the story meandered with too many subplots. Likes: - Rich descriptions of the Finger Lakes setting - Integration of historical suffragette movement - Complex family relationships - Stained glass imagery and symbolism Dislikes: - Slow first half - Main character Lucy described as self-absorbed - Too many coincidences in plot - Excessive detail about minor elements "The writing is beautiful but the story gets lost in unnecessary details" notes one Amazon reviewer. Multiple readers mentioned struggling to connect with Lucy's character, finding her "difficult to root for." Ratings: Goodreads: 3.3/5 (13,000+ ratings) Amazon: 3.5/5 (300+ ratings) LibraryThing: 3.4/5 (200+ ratings) The book receives consistent 3-star ratings across platforms, with readers divided between appreciating the writing style and finding the plot unfocused.

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🌟 Kim Edwards wrote this novel over a five-year period while teaching creative writing at the University of Kentucky. 🌟 The stained glass windows featured in the story were inspired by real-life artist Clara Pierce Wolcott Driscoll, who designed for Tiffany Studios in the early 1900s. 🌟 The Lake of Dreams is set in the Finger Lakes region of New York, an area historically significant in the women's suffrage movement—a theme that echoes throughout the novel. 🌟 Prior to writing this book, Edwards' debut novel "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" spent 122 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. 🌟 The author conducted extensive research on early 20th-century women's rights movements and lunar cycles to create authentic historical details for the story.