The Lake of Dreams

October 11, 2010
Bestseller Edwards's much anticipated second novel may disappoint fans of her first, The Memory Keeper's Daughter. When Lucy Jarrett returns to her childhood home in Lake of Dreams, N.Y., she learns that her brother, Blake, who's gone into the family business, and his girlfriend hope to drain a controversial marsh to construct a high-end property. Meanwhile, Lucy, who remains haunted by her father's death in a fishing accident years earlier, reconnects with her first boyfriend, Keegan Fall, now a successful glass artist. But when she sees something familiar in the pattern of one of his pieces, and discovers a hidden note in her childhood home, Lucy finally digs into her family's mysterious past. Unfortunately, the lazy expository handling of information mutes the intrigue, and readers will see the reignited spark between Keegan and Lucy coming for miles. All loose ends eventually come together with formulaic ease to rock the family boat. Edwards is at her best when highlighting the strain between her characters.

Ann Marie Lee's nuanced narration gives a sense of wonder to this story of a woman who is uncovering the layers of the past. After many years away, Lucy returns home after her mother's car accident. When she finds a box of old letters and connects them to the image of a woman in the stained glass window of a local chapel, she begins to delve in to the mysteries of her family's past. As she uncovers shocking secrets about her ancestry, she begins to face her father's untimely death, her uncle's betrayal, and the man she left behind. While Lee's measured tone and deliberate pacing make the novel's character voices a bit stilted, her narration still propels the listener through the story. A.M.R. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine