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The Lake of Dreams

3.18 of 5 stars 3.18 · rating details · 6,006 ratings · 1,243 reviews

From Kim Edwards, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Memory Keeper's Daughter, an arresting novel of one family's secret history

Imbued with all the lyricism, compassion, and suspense of her bestselling novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards’s The Lake of Dreams is a powerful family drama and an unforgettable story of love lost and found.

Lucy Jarr...more

Hardcover, 377 pages

Published January 4th 2011 by Viking Adult (first published November 23rd 2010)

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Feb 17, 2011 Lormac rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: hated-it

This book is awful. Let me count the ways...
I hate books where the characters act nothing like real people, and this book is a prime example of that failing. If you lived away from home for five + years and returned for an extended visit, and immediately pissed off your brother (who never left, by the way) by telling your mother that his girlfriend was pregnant after he specifically asked you not to do so, would you call him at 1:00 am when you knew he was sleeping next to the prgenant girlfrien...more This book is awful. Let me count the ways...
I hate books where the characters act nothing like real people, and this book is a prime example of that failing. If you lived away from home for five + years and returned for an extended visit, and immediately pissed off your brother (who never left, by the way) by telling your mother that his girlfriend was pregnant after he specifically asked you not to do so, would you call him at 1:00 am when you knew he was sleeping next to the prgenant girlfriend (who now hated you)to tell him that you thought that he was handling his career choice all wrong? Ummm, no, you wouldn't. But this character does.
I also hate books that base their plot on coincidence and unbelievable events. The plot starts with the narrator finding a package of documents in the cupola of the charmingly dilapidated Victorian mansion on a lake where her mother lives (more about the ridiculous descriptions later). By the end of the story, you still do not know why those documents were ever placed there since the person who wrote or collected them never lived in that house. And when she tells her mother about them, her mother says, 'Oh my gosh, I found a baby blanket hidden in the lining of an old trunk in the barn twenty-five years ago, and it has a note with the same hand-writing on it! I never thought to mention that I found this blanket or note to anyone in 25 years, but now let me show you since this will move this ridiculous plot forward another step.' Well, she doesn't say exactly that, but you get my drift. If you found out that a relative committed manslaughter and killed another relative of yours, would you contact the police, or would you vandalize the relative's store? Why, of course, you would start vandalizing immediately!! This way, no one would ever believe you when you later told your family about what your relative said. Yes, it is that stupid.
I also hate books which include flowery descriptions of every minute detail. The water never just laps at the dock - it laps at the dock like the rhythmic rustling of a lady's taffetta skirts as she sweeps across a marbled floor of a grand drawing room. For pete's sake, couldn't it just lap? And when the narrator tells her mother about some documents she found, we need to first hear about the coffee that she made and blueberry muffins she served with the coffee, studded with moist berries that recall to the taste buds those glorious summer days when the warm sun touched each berry in turn ripening them to the peak of their perfection. Arrrggghhh. By the time you get done listening to the description of the muffins, you have forgotten all about the documents which were so all fire important that she had to wake her brother up in the middle of the night. [This raises a point - I listened to this book on CD - I wonder if I would have noticed this so much if I had read the book on paper. I might have skimmed over the descriptions and they might not have annoyed me so much.]
Finally, Do you think it is tacky for an author of a best-seller to have a character in her next book reading the best-seller? Well, I do. In "Lake of Dreams" the narrator notices her mother reading a book with a black cover on which floats the ethereal image of a delicately embroidered baby dress. Why didn't she just say, "Oh, I see you are reading 'The Memory-Keeper's Daughter'?" At least when the narrator asks her mother how she likes the book (!!) her mother says, "Oh, I just started it." But by then the damage to my respect for this author has been completed.
In conclusion, don't waste your time on this book. Even if you really, really liked "The Memory-Keeper's Daughter" this book is not half as good as that one was. (Incidentally, I thought the MKD was just okay but at least it was not the train wreck this book is.)

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Feb 08, 2011 Lauren rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads-contest, swapped

I received this book through Goodreads First Read contest. Thankfully I didn't spend any money on it! I have to be honest and say that I was pretty disappointed in this book. It was hard to believe the same author that wrote my beloved “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” wrote this…this…boring crap of a book. Well, maybe the word “crap” is a little harsh. The book did get a lot of good reviews so it could just be me and my crazy opinions. I just could NOT get into the story at all. I found myself pra...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Johanna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-literature, arc-first-read

I love Ms. Edwards lyrical and descriptive language. Every scene is brilliantly painted. Her story was riveting - flowing between past and present with complete ease. I was probably most intrigued by the discovery of old letters and the main character's (Lucy's) journey to decipher the author's (fascinating) story.

But this book has so many components beyond that. There is the veil of mystery surrounding Lucy's father's death, her residual feelings for her first love, her feeling for her current...more

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Jan 04, 2011 Jennifer Rayment rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Good Stuff

Wonderful realistic characters
Author really understands the inner workings of a family and its dynamics
I really understood Lucy's need to understand about her family history
Fascinating information and history and the portrayal of women in organized religion
Loved the character of the priest Suzi and her conversations with Keegan. If she was real, I would actually go to church
I was totally engrossed in the mystery of Rose and Iris and I think I wanted to find out the truth as much as...more

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Jan 20, 2011 Cheri rated it 5 of 5 stars

oH, WHAT A BOOK!!!! I realized finally that I couldn't get into the book iniitially because I was trying to read in the hospital as my husaband was having surgery. Not the best place to begin a book. Finally, however, I was able to concentrate. So glad that I was.....the characters in this book are people I would want to meet.....people with whom I would want to spend time.

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Apr 06, 2013 Marianne Burbank rated it 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down. It was full of family, secrets, suspense and history, including that of the suffragette movement. Since I hail from old New England family and have just recently learned that my grandmother was a suffragette, and we also had our nearly 200 year old family homestead pass out of the family in 2007 and had to clean out 200 years worth of treasures, I could relate to this story on many levels. There is even a family connection with Asia with my...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Phyllis Sommers rated it 3 of 5 stars

A lovely, thought-provoking story that follows Lucy Jarrett on her personal journey as she returns to the home of her childhood, Lake of Dreams, in upstate New York. Lucy had left for Indonesia after she graduated college, where she'd developed an expertise in hydrology. It was in Indonesia where she met Yoshi, an engineer working for an NGO in Jakarta. When Lucy was notified that her mother, Evie, had injured her hand in an accident, Lucy decided it was time to return home for a visit. Yoshi wo...more A lovely, thought-provoking story that follows Lucy Jarrett on her personal journey as she returns to the home of her childhood, Lake of Dreams, in upstate New York. Lucy had left for Indonesia after she graduated college, where she'd developed an expertise in hydrology. It was in Indonesia where she met Yoshi, an engineer working for an NGO in Jakarta. When Lucy was notified that her mother, Evie, had injured her hand in an accident, Lucy decided it was time to return home for a visit. Yoshi would follow within a few weeks.

Somewhat afraid of opening up several still-open wounds from her childhood, Lucy, thus, left Japan, where she and Yoshi were then living. Little did she expect that her journey home would ultimately re-frame her entire outlook on life, opening several new aspects of her family's history, while answering the previously unanswered aspects of her past.

The most difficult part of Lucy's childhood had been her father's unexpected death, in a fishing accident, when she was 15. Having been extremely close to her father, his death precipitated her desire to leave her home and say goodbye to her mother and brother, Blake, as soon as possible. Now, upon her return at age 30, however, she discovered that much had changed while she was away. As she helped Evie sort through several old boxes that had been stored during all her years away, she unexpectedly came upon some old letters, letters written by and to someone named Rose. Intrigued by the first letter she read, Lucy's curiosity would not let her rest until she determined what role, if any, Rose played in the Jarrett family history. Lucy, therefore, threw herself into extensive research and was not unrewarded for her efforts. She soon learned, to everyone's shock, that Rose, did, indeed, play a prominent role in the family's past, a role that ultimately would impact the Jarrett family's present and future.

As the novel slowly and methodically develops, we follow Lucy on her journey as she finally begins to find herself. The slowness of the story's development is what I found most difficult. There was enough mystery to keep me reading, though, and for a while I found the excitement building with a promise of becoming something really special, perhaps to rival the author's phenomenal earlier novel, "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." This didn't happen, however, so I would have to say "Lake of Dreams" falls into the category of a well-written, slightly better than average novel, certainly a worthwhile read.(less)

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Nov 07, 2012 Kris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, audio

2.5 STARS

Currently unemployed, Lucy Jarrett returns home to Lake of Dreams to see her mother who has injured her arm. She leaves behind her boyfriend Yoshi in Japan. While at home she revisits her past and her family's. She suffers guilt over her father's death 10 years ago when she did not go fishing with him; her regret over the high school boyfriend she left behind and stopped talking to when her father died; her uncle and cousin that are greedy and maybe leaving her brother in a dead-end po...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Lauren rated it 2 of 5 stars

Ugh. Just... ugh.

It started off beautifully.
And then...
-The characters were tedious.
-The dialogue was tedious, indeed. (In contemporary America, do people seriously use "Indeed" commonly when they talk to each other? It seemed to be used so much in this book, it might as well have been slang.)
-Continuity errors with dates, the family lineage.

But most of all...

I could care less about the "protagonist." Lucy was a selfish, condescending well-to-do.
From the trivial details:
Her niece expresses exci...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Rebecca Graf rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kim Edwards gives the reader a lot to chew on in her book, The Lake of Dreams. This is the story of a woman who left home years before looking for a new life in the hopes of forgetting her past and the death of her father. When she makes her way back home, she has to come to grips with herself, her family, and the family secret that is discovered. What one generation saw as a scandal became the basis of courage and hope for another generation.

If you are looking for a high paced novel, this is no...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars

Having really enjoyed The Memory Keeper's Daughter, I anxiously awaited her follow-up novel, and Lake of Dreams doesn't disappoint. In fact, it far exceeded my expectations.

Lucy Jarrett is a wanderer. Ever since he father died 10 years ago, she has moved from country to country, seeking fulfilling work and interesting people. Over the past couple of years, she has settled down in Japan with her boyfriend, Yoshi, but a trip back home to Lake of Dreams, NY, stirs up all of the memories she thought...more Having really enjoyed The Memory Keeper's Daughter, I anxiously awaited her follow-up novel, and Lake of Dreams doesn't disappoint. In fact, it far exceeded my expectations.

Lucy Jarrett is a wanderer. Ever since he father died 10 years ago, she has moved from country to country, seeking fulfilling work and interesting people. Over the past couple of years, she has settled down in Japan with her boyfriend, Yoshi, but a trip back home to Lake of Dreams, NY, stirs up all of the memories she thought she had buried. Lucy finds herself unraveling a genealogical mystery involving a never-mentioned family member, beautiful stained glass windows in an unconsecrated church, and women who were involved in the suffrage movement. As she seeks answers to her family lineage, she also questions her own life and whether she has actually moved on or just kept moving.

Kim Edwards has a way of writing that is absolutely gorgeous. She slowly unfolds details and vivid descriptions so that the black and white sketch in my mind is enhanced by broad strokes of color then finally fine details until I have a beautiful and realistic picture in my mind. Some have criticized her for being overly-wordy but she is not simply describing a scene, she is painting her vision. I read this book slowly to fully envision what her careful words wanted me to see.

I also really enjoyed this book because I saw myself in Lucy. I spend much time moving place to place, racing from one job to the next that "I hadn't often paused to consider the people - or the possibilities - I'd left behind." I love going home and seeing friends and family from my pre-college life, but like Lucy, I often spend time "watching the party as if it were taking place on a stage, feeling a strange sense of distance, knowing that this sort of gathering happend all the time and would carry on once I was gone again." We also both struggle against the subtle sexism that persists in science - those "times when I'd been interrupted in the middle of a presentation, or given all the paperwork to finish, a kind of corporate housekeeping, or had been excluded in a routine way from important conversations outside of work." So many quotes from Lucy echoed the exact thoughts I have had in my life, which made a connection between me and this book that very few readers will have.

I hesitate to give her the full five stars because, while I couldn't wait to continue this story, I couldn't help compare it to books by Kate Morton - and Morton is phenomenal at the genealogical mystery! I also felt like the end of this book wrapped up pretty quick - the family history part of it wrapped up nicely but Lucy's personal struggles just kind of magically corrected themselves. This book wasn't short (about 400 pages) but I was so engrossed in the story that I would have eagerly read an additional 50 pages to give it a more proper ending.

A great book that may not resonate with others the way it did with me, but is still a worthwhile way to spend a few lazy afternoons!(less)

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Aug 30, 2012 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Lake of Dreams is, essentially, a novel about coming home to find oneself again, which seems to be a common theme in popular literature right now. Lucy Jarrett seems to live a freewheeling lifestyle, traveling the world for her job as a hydrologist, but really she is stuck in a rut, rendered emotionally incapable of rooting herself to any particular place or person since her father died some ten years ago. Lucy is living in Japan, unemployed and struggling within the confines of yet another...more The Lake of Dreams is, essentially, a novel about coming home to find oneself again, which seems to be a common theme in popular literature right now. Lucy Jarrett seems to live a freewheeling lifestyle, traveling the world for her job as a hydrologist, but really she is stuck in a rut, rendered emotionally incapable of rooting herself to any particular place or person since her father died some ten years ago. Lucy is living in Japan, unemployed and struggling within the confines of yet another relationship, when her mother e-mails to say she has been in a car accident.
With her boyfriend's encouragement, Lucy flies home for a visit with her family and finds herself entangled in the web of not only her own past, but also her previously unknown ancestor, Rose's, distant past, when she finds a packet of letters locked away in an unused room. Sensing a kindred spirit in the woman who wrote the letters, Lucy pursues the mystery of what happened to Rose with dogged intensity.

The historical mystery worked for me, for the most part, although at times the pieces seemed to fall into place a bit too easily, as when some letters of Rose's conveniently outline her history. Sometimes Lucy also jumped to make connections between seemingly unrelated things with "her gut instinct" as the only justification. Despite this, I was absorbed in this subplot about Rose Jarrett Wyndham and her daughter, both of whom had been lost to history.

The two things that bothered me the most about this novel were, admittedly, small details. I had a real problem with the name of Lucy's love interest, Yoshi. Every time his name appeared on the page, I was stifling giggles. Other children of the '80s and '90s may sympathize. It's tough to enjoy a romantic scene when all you can picture is the little green dragon from Super Mario Bros.
The other detail is even smaller. In one scene, Lucy finds her mother reading on the porch. She notes, in unusual detail, that the book's cover features a transparent baby's dress. This jerked me right out of my fiction-induced reverie. I remembered seeing a book with exactly that cover. Author Kim Edwards' previous book, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, in fact. Perhaps Ms. Edwards thought she was being clever or cute when she inserted this little detail, but I found it to be an unwelcome plug.

In the end, I suppose that if these are my biggest complaints, The Lake of Dreams was a successful novel. I don't think it will find a place among my favorites, but it was an enjoyable read with beautiful descriptive passages and complex characters worth rooting for.
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Jul 14, 2012 Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Female adults

Shelves: mystery, adult

This book drew me in right from the start. Walking past tables and tables of books at my high schools book fair, the words "Lake of Dreams" jumped out at me. And naturally, with such a mysterious summary on the back cover that left an extreme amount to the imagination, I had to buy it and figure out what family secret Lucy uncovers.

Boy was I not prepared for what she found!

I was under the impression that this book was going to be a darker mystery that would have me on edge and all my senses woun...more This book drew me in right from the start. Walking past tables and tables of books at my high schools book fair, the words "Lake of Dreams" jumped out at me. And naturally, with such a mysterious summary on the back cover that left an extreme amount to the imagination, I had to buy it and figure out what family secret Lucy uncovers.

Boy was I not prepared for what she found!

I was under the impression that this book was going to be a darker mystery that would have me on edge and all my senses wound up. Clearly I had never read anything else by Kim Edwards. Don't get me wrong, I was still on the edge of my seat, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, and I had the book finished in less than twenty four hours. It is not a thriller, though, and the whole book had a calming sensation over me.

It seems to be a reoccurring pattern when I read books. I finish the first chapter and cannot stand the way the author writes, how the sentences are put together, and so on and so forth. That was every bit as true with this book. Luckily for me, the plot picked up fast, sweeping me off my feet and distracting me from sentence composition. I soon formed an attachment with Lucy. She is one of those rare characters I really connect to. I felt like I was her in the story, going on the same journey. Partially because I am on a similar journey right now, without the discovery of long lost relatives, of course.

The main character, Lucy, ends up throughout the book finding peace within herself and life for the first time after her father's death. I actually do not believe peace is the correct word for what happens to Lucy, but I cannot find another, more appropriate one. The inspirational story of Lucy's newly discovered great grandmother is a story that not only helps Lucy, but it helps me too.

Overall, this novel is something I would read over and over again. I have no complaints, only words of love. Anyone looking for a good read should definitely find themselves a copy of The Lake of Dreams. (less)

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Jun 22, 2012 Betsy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Jarrett is an unemployed hydologist living in Japan with her currently employed boyfriend Yoshi. When she receives a message that her mother has had a minor accident she returns home, not only to check on her mother, but also to check on her feelings for Yoshi and their relationship. In her hometown,Lake of Dreams, Lucy is there, she is able due to her deceased father's tutoring to open a locked widow-seat containing family secrets that have been hidden since the 1920's.The novel moves bac...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Sidna Bookout rated it 1 of 5 stars

I totally agree with another reviewer said this book is "awful." That was the only word I could think of to describe it.

Edwards' first book, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, was o.k. Not my favorite book, but worth reading. Edwards wrote a draft of this book long before she wrote her first published book. After Memory Keeper was published, she pulled it out and reworked it. She should have left it in the drawer.

Recently, I attended a literary luncheon with brief talks by three authors. Edwards was...more I totally agree with another reviewer said this book is "awful." That was the only word I could think of to describe it.

Edwards' first book, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, was o.k. Not my favorite book, but worth reading. Edwards wrote a draft of this book long before she wrote her first published book. After Memory Keeper was published, she pulled it out and reworked it. She should have left it in the drawer.

Recently, I attended a literary luncheon with brief talks by three authors. Edwards was one of the authors so I bought her book. I'm glad I didn't bother to have her sign it.

This book tries too hard to be something it is not. Lucy Jarret has travelled the world since she graduated from college. She has worked in several different countries and in many failed relationships. As the book begins she is living in Japan with her boyfriend Yoshi, where Yoshi has a job, but Lucy is unemployed.

Lucy's father died in a boating accident 10 years previously. Her mother, who lives alone in the family home, has been in an accident and her arm is in a cast. Since she is not working, Lucy decides to go home for a visit.

Lucy finds a scrap of material from a dead ancestor who has never been mentioned. She jumps to all sorts of conclusions about her ancestor's having a relationship with a man who makes stained glass windows. The ancestor's name is Rose and he has roses in some of his windows so, of course, they were having a relationship. The book is full of dumb stuff like that. "Metaphor" must be Edwards' favorite word because everything in the book is a metaphor for something else.

Lucy's ansceswtor Rose jumps out of her bedroom window at the age of 14 to see a comet that passes over. Edwards tries to make something out of the comet (I could never figure out where she was trying to go with that) and connects Mark Twain because at one time he lived in Elmira, New York, which Lucy vists in the book. Twain was born when Halley's Comet appeared and died 76 years later when it appeared again.

Edwards also uses the dead ancestor to explore the suffragette movement and explain how difficult it was for women to get the right to vote. We've had the right to vote for 90 years now so I think it is time to get over it.

Apparently Edwards forgot some of the conditions she set up in this book. Lucy comes home because her mother has her arm in a cast, but this perfectly healthy young woman sits on her rear and lets her mother wait on her, instead of letting her mother rest. Edwards has the mother carrying a tray full of drinks at a party when her arm is supposed to be in a cast (pretty tough to do one handed) and putting both hands on her face. Why isn't the daughter helping?

The other word that comes to mind to discribe this book is "pretentious." I would not recommend this book to anyone. (less)

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Oct 29, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: family-story, historical, mystery, romance

I had a serious love-hate relationship with this book. I loved the family-history part of the story, both the suffragette's actual story, and how the protagonist traces this forgotten branch of the family through historical archives (what can I say? That sort of thing is crack to a librarian). I also loved the colorful settings and activities the author used and described.

I hated the protagonist, though. Her arrogance, self-centeredness, and sense of entitlement beggared belief for a 29-year-old...more I had a serious love-hate relationship with this book. I loved the family-history part of the story, both the suffragette's actual story, and how the protagonist traces this forgotten branch of the family through historical archives (what can I say? That sort of thing is crack to a librarian). I also loved the colorful settings and activities the author used and described.

I hated the protagonist, though. Her arrogance, self-centeredness, and sense of entitlement beggared belief for a 29-year-old woman who has lived internationally for most of her adult life. I would have believed it of a 15-year-old girl, but not a cosmopolitan, near-thirty-year-old woman. If someone asked her to keep something secret or not to do a particular thing, and she either didn't understand or didn't agree with their reasons, then she judged that clearly the promise/request/etc. did not apply to her and she could do as she pleased no matter what the consequences for anyone else. Also, since she had inherited a gift for unlocking locks, clearly locked doors and gates were not intended to keep her out; if she could undo the lock, she had a right to go in. After all, her enlightnenement and self-actualization and worldview trumped anyone else's reasons for doing anything at all. I seriously wanted to slap her upside the head multiple times, even when I agreed with whatever sketchy thing she was doing (which happened once, because someone else's interest was also at stake). You just know she was a popular girl at school, no matter what she says.

The writing also had a few places where I wanted to tear my hair out, though that might have been because I was listening to it on CD. Several times the protagonist would discover potentially life-changing documents, and instead of opening and reading them immediately, she would spend several paragraphs musing about the sunlight over the lake, or memories of her father on his fishing boat, and the significance of that to her life, etc. etc. ad infinitum. ARGH! Just read the damned document already!

Maybe I would have liked the book better with a different narrator. She read everything in tremulous tones, as if she were hovering on the edge of tears and bravely fighting them off to tell this story of monumental pain and sacrifice (and of course her own bravery in enduring it) even when she was just talking about a visit to a glass factory.

And at least 2/3 of the epilogue was overkill.

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Jul 28, 2011 Michele Perry rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed Kim Edward’s first novel – The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – and as with so many second novels I did have high expectations for her latest title – The Lake of Dreams. Unfortunately, some authors have missed the mark with their second. But I thought, with such a lovely title, cover and a storyline that piqued my interest – I was eager to give this story a go and well...I was pleasantly surprise.

The Lake of Dreams is a beautifully written, thought-provoking, lusciously described, emo...more I really enjoyed Kim Edward’s first novel – The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – and as with so many second novels I did have high expectations for her latest title – The Lake of Dreams. Unfortunately, some authors have missed the mark with their second. But I thought, with such a lovely title, cover and a storyline that piqued my interest – I was eager to give this story a go and well...I was pleasantly surprise.

The Lake of Dreams is a beautifully written, thought-provoking, lusciously described, emotive, family saga. But not in the sense of ‘over the top, ridiculously dramatic and totally unbelievable type “saga” - more realistic, subtle mystery and gripping-type saga.

Lucy Jarrett is a wonderer – a young woman free to travel and embrace the world and all it has to offer. Moving from job to job and place to place with her boyfriend, she finds comfort in freedom...well that is until she is unemployed and starts to question her lifestyle choice. When her mother is injured in a car accident, she decides to head back home, to the Lake of Dreams, hoping to gain a new sense of direction and purpose. But what she finds in the once tranquil village is turmoil and uncertain futures for her family. Add to this her own unsettling issues with her father’s unresolved death, her mother’s new romance, the news that her brother is working for their Uncle who cheated their father out of his share of the family business, and a re-acquaintance with her first love - you would think that was enough ‘plot’ for a novel. But there is more... Lucy discovers a collection of objects that reveal a hidden family history – papers dating between 1913 and 1925 link her to a family member who plays an important part in the suffragette movement. This history has a profound meaning for Lucy and leads her on a quest to find out her lineage and maybe an answer to her own past haunts.

Edward’s writing is eloquent and charming. Combined with a suspenseful and captivating plot with fleshed out characters – for me, it is a winner.
I was easily drawn into Lucy and her family’s plights and personal struggles, I was genuinely eager to find out how each of them got to where they are and how they move forward given the unravelled mystery of their past. Lucy’s relationship with her boyfriend and ex-boyfriend is well-rounded, believable and understandable. Even her relationship with her mother and brother seems real and true to each of their characterisations.

I would recommend this book to lovers of the elegance of language, those eager for a good family mystery, and those who wish to step head first into a novel and become totally involved in the lives of an intriguing family set within the gloriously described Lake of Dreams.

P.S. There is a family tree at the back of the book – I had made my own early on in my reading of it, only to discover half way through that there was one already there. But don’t worry, it isn’t because there are loads of characters and it all gets a bit ridiculous, it is handy because there are a few ‘Josephs’!(less)

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May 27, 2011 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, mysteries

When I sit down with a new book and think for a moment of the characters and settings and plots that I hope to soon encounter, I wonder how close the book will be to some unquantifiable ideal that I have. And after two DNFs in a row, I was beginning to worry. And then I cracked open this one, and this is the sort of book that I wish every book could be. The characters are terrific and have just enough in the way of flaws, but the novel is not entirely character-driven; there is actually a decent...more When I sit down with a new book and think for a moment of the characters and settings and plots that I hope to soon encounter, I wonder how close the book will be to some unquantifiable ideal that I have. And after two DNFs in a row, I was beginning to worry. And then I cracked open this one, and this is the sort of book that I wish every book could be. The characters are terrific and have just enough in the way of flaws, but the novel is not entirely character-driven; there is actually a decent story to follow, as well. On the settings front, the scenes are painted well and the book reminds me once again of how much I want to visit the Finger Lakes region of the country someday. And not just because of nearby Cooperstown. As for the narrative, the story lines are excellent, but the book is not entirely plot-driven, either; the characters are multidimensional and nicely developed, as well.

As for the plot threads themselves, there's the story of the protagonist (and the voice of the novel) and her personal and professional restlessness as she nears 30. (This was a weak point for me, as I consider 30 to be too young for a mid-life crisis of sorts, but Edwards is more or less able to get away with it here.) Then there's the question of what really led to her father's death on a still lake in the early morning hours over a decade earlier. And there's the question of how her various findings will affect her mother and her brother and those around them and those with ties to them in the small town. And there's a fair amount of Wolfe's you-can't-go-home-again theme here, as well. Lastly, there's the story of her relatives from generations past, both before and after they arrived on these shores. In retrospect, I had issues with some of the dumb things that the protagonist did along the way, but the only major negative on the plotting front was when the story almost went off the rails near the end. Not only off the rails, but it had me worrying that it was going to crash and burn in flames, in both a figurative and a literal sense. Fortunately, things were righted in short order and the subsequent resolution was as good as the rest of the book. But if Edwards was talked *off* of that path by someone, then she owes that person a nice dinner; and if she was talked *onto* it, then she needs to kick that person in the shins really, really hard.

Beyond that, I skipped Edwards's debut outing in spite of a lot of praise for her writing, as the topic simply didn't appeal to me and, admittedly, I steer clear of what I perceive to be "chick lit" with as much fervor as many women have for their avoidance of some of the admittedly brainless, testosterone-driven thrillers that I enjoy. The topic of this one, on the other hand, appealed to me quite a bit on a number of levels, and I was glad to see that the praise for her writing is legitimate--and then some.(less)

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May 24, 2011 Susanhayeshotmail.com rated it 2 of 5 stars

Apparently I had The Memory Keeper's Daughter confused with a book I liked better because I remember being quite happy to get my hands on The Lake of Dreams because it was by the same author. I didn't hate it and I did finish it but I was not completely captivated. Actually, I was kind of captivated by the main character's genealogical sleuthing and her family's past but something, or some things, just annoyed me. As in Memory Keeper's I just never really felt engaged with any of the characters....more

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May 17, 2011 Kristen rated it 1 of 5 stars

To be honest, I didn't finish the book, but in all fairness I wanted to quit about five pages in and gave it my best effort. 200 pages later, I finally succumbed to rational thought and replaced this time-suck with something else. I've read The Memory Keeper's Daughter and The Secrets of the Fireking, both of which I remember being interesting and well-told. So much so in fact that I have been eagerly awaiting Kim Edward's newest book for two years. Two years, I have searched the Fiction shelves...more

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May 01, 2011 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found Kim Edwards’ latest novel far more compelling than "The Memory Keeper’s Daughter." Spanning one hundred years and three continents, Edwards skillfully weaves the themes and stories of women suffragettes, class, relationships, art and the environment as the background and context of the novel. At the same time she presents her characters wrestling with the demands of their contemporary lives, most of whom have little or no interest in their history, which ultimately becomes a central char...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-audio-books, 2011-general-fiction

The Lake of Dreams, by Kim Edwards, Narrated by Ann Marie Lee, Produced by Penguin Audio Books, downloaded from audible.com.

At a crossroads in her life, Lucy Jarrett returns home from Japan because her mother has broken her wrist. Lucy has not been home for several years and continues to be haunted by the events surrounding her father’s death, which occurred after her highschool graduation-events which she never clearly understood. Lucy finds that things have changed in the years she has been go...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Tamela rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book because I enjoyed "The Memory Keeper's Daughter," but, alas, it was not to be. The writing was heavy-handed, the plot--not terribly compelling to begin with--plodded, and the characters were so numerous they became one-dimensional in order to cram them all into the story. I wish the author had spent more time making the historical events come to life and less time waxing rhapsodic about the stillness of the night air and the ripples on the lake water.

For me, the...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Christine Rebbert rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first review I read of this book didn't like it; it wasn't as good as "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" and the plot developments could be seen coming a mile away. However, I found that NOT to be the case at all, and I really enjoyed this! The "heroine" returns from Japan to her beach-front home after her mother has experiened a fall. While there, she runs into her high school sweetheart who now is running a stained glass-works in town. A mystery develops as Mom and daughter are going through c...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Terri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am also listening to the audiobook of Kim Edwards’ The Lake of Dreams. I am not quite through with the book. It is long, but it is also emotionally intense. There are books that I just can’t put down, but there are also books that become almost emotionally painful that require me to stop occasionally because reading or listening is too intense and I need a break. This is one of those. I had the same reaction to her previous novel, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. (If you’ve seen the movie, but no...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Toni rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book held my interest. It does try to cover a multitude of ideas-families, siblings, women's suffragette,the Vietnam War, stained glass manufacturing and history, American Indian rights, ecology and women's place in religion.Basically, it works,but perhaps there were just a few too many points that the author was trying to make. The story of Rose was my favorite part and what kept me reading. Lucy 's story bothered me a little- I empathized with her feelings of loss and guilt at the death o...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Rosanne rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was greatly disappointed in The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards. I was hoping for a story like her first novel, "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" but unfortunately that is not what I got.

Lucy Jarrett is living in Japan with her boyfriend Yoshi and things aren't going well. She is unsettled and has a need to return home to the US and visit her family in a town in upstate NY. She hasn't been back since the untimely and questionable death of her father. Once she returns she is haunted by memories and...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Carolyn Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a lovely book that treats the past as more than memory, but as a deep current that tugs at the lives of its present day characters, even though they are unaware of its secrets. The Lake of Dreams is a (fictional) place in the finger lakes district of New York where the main character Lucy Jarrett was raised and where her family's roots are since the time her great grandfather emigrated there and established the family lock business. Lucy grew up on the shores of the beautiful deep cold l...more This is a lovely book that treats the past as more than memory, but as a deep current that tugs at the lives of its present day characters, even though they are unaware of its secrets. The Lake of Dreams is a (fictional) place in the finger lakes district of New York where the main character Lucy Jarrett was raised and where her family's roots are since the time her great grandfather emigrated there and established the family lock business. Lucy grew up on the shores of the beautiful deep cold lake, but left home for college after the accidental drowning death of her father and tried to escape her pain and feelings of guilt by traveling far and wide in her career as a hydrologist. Even in her chosen livelihood, she cannot escape the pull of water. Her life is on shaky ground, metaphorically and literally, for as the book opens she is unemployed, living with her lover in Japan, where earthquakes are a frequent occurrence, the result of an island forming underwater. When her mother is injured in a car accident, Lucy decides it's time to visit home, a place she has mostly avoided in the last ten years. Lucy has the family gift of opening locks, and in the closed-off cupola of her childhood home she unlocks a window seat and finds some old papers relating to the suffragettes, a letter, and a personal note tucked in the articles. (One minor quibble: the author doesn't explain how this personal revealing note or the inflammatory papers it was hidden in could have ended up there when the writer had never lived in the house.) In her discovery Lucy has unlocked a window to the past, which leads her to actual windows of stained glass that are connected to the writer of the letter and note. Lucy's quest to unravel the mystery of her heretofore unknown relative drives most of the narrative. In her search she unearths truths that shake the foundation of her family's carefully constructed edifice, like an underwater island, and lead her to a confrontation that reveals the painful circumstances of her father's death. There are several themes here - the suffering and redemption of the past, the struggle for the rights of women, the healing power of art, the protection and restoration of land and water, and the search for a spiritual peace, like the calm of a deep, placid lake. I found the book to have a gentle lull, like rocking in a boat on the water, but one that you still feel after you're back on land.(less)

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Jan 17, 2011 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

The moment I finished The Memory Keeper’s Daughter I though “I must read everything this women writes!” and thus began the long wait for her next novel. The Lake of Dreams was well worth the wait! Edwards has once again created characters that are so life like and realistic, their reactions and motivations so believable that the reader becomes emotionally invested in the novel. Unemployed, living in Japan with boyfriend in a relationship that is beginning to show signs of wear, Lucy Jarrett is u...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Jackie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wish I had liked this book better. It held some promise, at the beginning. But finally, after having persevered and doggedly pursued the end, I mostly just felt let down.

I didn't read The Memory Keeper's Daughter - I kept picking it up, and thinking, maybe, but then putting it back on the shelf at the library. And I almost wish I had done that with this book. It has received mostly good reviews. But.....

1. This story seems like one I've read a million times before. Nothing remarkable, earth sh...more

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About Kim Edwards

Kim Edwards grew up in Skaneateles, New York, in the heart of the Finger Lakes region. The oldest of four children, she graduated from Colgate University and the University of Iowa, where she received an MFA in Fiction and an MA in Linguistics. After completing her graduate work, she went with her husband to Asia, where they spent the next five years teaching, first on the rural east coast of Mala...more

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Quotes from The Lake of Dreams

“The challenges in this place are real and sometimes very difficult, but I've learned to slow down and look for beauty in my days, for the mysteries and blessings woven into everything, into the very words we speak.” — 6 people liked it

“The interwoven spheres and vines ran along the bottom. I'd done some research, and I'd found this motif everywhere. These overlapping circles were ancient, tracing back to Pythagorean geometry--geometry, a measure of the world. In more mystical terms, the shape had always evoked tghe place where world overlap: dreaming with waking, death with life, the visible with the unseen. [p. 362]” — 2 people liked it

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