Ladies of the Lake begins in 1935, with the headmistress of Lakeside Ladies Academy in Connecticut calls to personally invite Mrs. Murray to her daughter’s graduation, even though it is over 800 miles away. Mrs. Murray refuses, and that is the first big question: why?
The story then skips back to 1905, when twelve-year-old Adelaide MacNeill’s parents drown, her older half-brother sends her away from her beloved Prince Edward Island and sends her to the Lakeside. There she is befriended by Dorothy, Ruth, and Susannah, and they refer to themselves as Ladies of the Lake.
The story flip-flops between Adelaide’s growing-up years at Lakeside and the present, where she continues to refuse to travel to the USA. We see her graduate, start work … and fall in love with the same man as Dorothy, her best friend. A man who happens to be a German-American in World War I … yes, there is every indication this isn’t going to end well.
The mystery unfolds as we move further into the novel, particularly as the past story comes closer and closer to the present. There was plenty of tension as I wondered when the present characters would work out what the listener has known from the beginning: that Adelaide is alive. But there were also a couple of unexpected twists, one that was revealed close to the end, providing the piece de resistance to an already excellent story.
The narrator did an excellent job.
The first few minutes felt a little stilted, as the story opened with a letter. But once she got into the regular dialogue and action of the novel, the narration moved smoothly. I was particularly impressed with her ability to portray the different voices–child, teen, and adult, male and female.
I’m not always a fan of audiobooks, mostly because they feel slow—I can read a novel in half the time it takes to listen to the audiobook (and I can’t take the audiobook reading speed much past 1.25 times or I start literally losing the plot). But Ladies of the Lake had plenty of mysteries and secrets to keep me engaged and did a masterful job of unravelling the secrets at the perfect pace to keep me engaged and listening.
Of course, the one weakness of audiobooks is that I can’t underline and share any of the great writing or lines I found particularly meaningful. You’ll just have to trust me: there were many.
Recommended for historical fiction fans, particularly Anne of Green Gables fans.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free audiobook for review.
About Cathy Gohlke
Cathy Gohlke is the three-time Christy Award-winning author of the critically acclaimed novels Secrets She Kept (winner of the 2016 Carol and INSPY Awards), Saving Amelie (winner of the 2015 INSPY Award), Band of Sisters, Promise Me This (listed by Library Journal as one of the best books of 2012), William Henry Is a Fine Name, and I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires (listed by Library Journal as one of the best books of 2008), which also won the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Award.
Cathy has worked as a school librarian, drama director, and director of children’s and education ministries. When not traipsing the hills and dales of historic sites, she, her husband, and their dog, Reilly, divide their time between Northern Virginia and the Jersey Shore, enjoying time with their children and granddaughters.
You can find Cathy Gohlke online at:
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About Ladies of the Lake
When she is forced to leave her beloved Prince Edward Island to attend Lakeside Ladies Academy after the death of her parents, the last thing Adelaide Rose MacNeill expects to find is three kindred spirits. The “Ladies of the Lake,” as the four girls call themselves, quickly bond like sisters, vowing that wherever life takes them, they will always be there for each other. But that is before: Before love and jealousy come between Adelaide and Dorothy, the closest of the friends. Before the dawn of World War I upends their world and casts baseless suspicion onto the German American man they both love. Before a terrible explosion in Halifax Harbor rips the sisterhood irrevocably apart.
Seventeen years later, Rosaline Murray receives an unsuspecting telephone call from Dorothy, now headmistress of Lakeside, inviting her to attend the graduation of a new generation of girls, including Rosaline’s beloved daughter. With that call, Rosaline is drawn into a past she’d determined to put behind her. To memories of a man she once loved . . . of a sisterhood she abandoned . . . and of the day she stopped being Adelaide MacNeill.
Find Ladies of the Lake online at:
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Courtney Walsh is a novelist, artist, theater director, and playwright. Change of Heart is her fifth novel and is set in the same town as Paper Hearts. Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, hit the New York Times and USA Today e-book bestseller lists and was a Carol Award finalist in the debut author category. She has written two additional books in the Sweethaven series, as well as two craft books and several full-length musicals. Courtney lives in Illinois where she and her husband own a performing and visual arts studio. They have three children.