Tom Lake | Ann Patchett

Reading Ann Patchett is like pulling on a nice cozy sweater. She's masterful at writing about relationships and people and the things that make them stronger, or that damage them. I heard her speak at our local literary series a few years back and she was delightful. I read Tom Lake is a little over a day (OK, so I'm a fast reader). The book is set during the pandemic and has a climate change undercurrent, which made me worry at first that it wasn't going to be what I thought. But these conditions helped set the stage for how this family, the Nelsons, were all together.

The "action" takes place during the cherry harvest, and the real story is told by the mother, Lara, to her daughters, Emily, Maisie and Nell while they're picking cherries in the family's Michigan orchard. Ends up that Mom had some real adventures in her youth as a young actor in summer stock in UP Michigan. Adventures her now-adult daughters didn't know about. You'll want to brush up on your Our Town because the play looms large in the story (not a spoiler). There's also a strong Chekhov link here, but my Chekhov is a bit rusty so I'm sure I missed something.

The story is about first love, new love and deep love that lasts and really matters. Relationships between mothers and daughters, fathers and daughters, sisters, friends. There are a couple of surprises in the story, but one of the things that makes it such a cozy sweater is that they're gently knit into the story thread. This wasn't my favorite Patchett novel (I'm a fan of her early work The Patron Saint of Liars and The Magician's Assistant), but I really enjoyed it. I waited months for this to come on my library hold list so I think a lot of other people must have enjoyed it, too!