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Book Review of The Lake House

The Lake House
cathyskye avatar reviewed on + 2307 more book reviews


I have enjoyed every single one of Kate Morton's books, and The Lake House is no exception. Extremely few writers have Morton's knack for interweaving multiple storylines, time periods, and characters.

Throughout the entire book the Cornish estate of Loeanneth kept me spellbound, no matter the time period. From beloved home to neglected shell, Morton's descriptions held me in the palm of her hand because no matter the state of the place, Morton described a home that was loved, not hated. All that needed to be done was to have the secrets brought out into the light.

Young police detective Sadie Sparrow is the perfect character to bring those secrets to light. She is an absolute terrier at digging them up... although she has a secret or two of her own that she doesn't want to share.

Pitted against young Sadie is the much older and wiser Alice (A.C.) Edevane-- a strong character no matter the age at which Morton portrays her. We see Alice's parents falling in love, and we see Alice, her parents and siblings happily ensconced in Loeanneth. At the age of sixteen Alice is already writing novels. She's such a bright, inquisitive child, and so eager to become an adult. But her world comes crashing down around her after a party at Loeanneth. Hundreds of people attended, but only one cannot be accounted for: Alice's eleven-month-old brother Theo. The infant is never seen again, and the tragedy shatters the Edevane family.

The Lake House has so many interlocking secrets and so many possible solutions to what happened to Theo-- more than enough to keep all our little grey cells hopping. We learn about all these secrets as the time period swings to and fro naturally from present day to 1911, 1933, and 1941. Kate Morton has done it again: created a world, characters, and a story that kept me fascinated from first page to last.