I think I’ve just finished reading a perfectly written novel! Tom Lake held my attention the whole way through. I felt like one of the daughters begging her mother to keep telling the story of her past adventures. I would have been the one continually asking for more details. Now I’ll have to track down other Ann Patchett novels as she’s been added to my “gotta-read” authors list.

I love Ann Patchett books and this is the best one yet! Although nothing major happens,the world is not going to end or world peace is not accomplished, but this book fits like an old pair of shoes that are so comfortable that you don't want to take them off (or put the book down). It is a charming story that is contained within another charming story all wrapped up in an old charming story--Our Town. I loved the little dribs and drabs of information that were given throughout the book--I especially loved the origins of the daughters' names, I figured out Emily right away, but as the book went on I delighted in learning the origins of Maizie and Nell. My only complaint (and I can certainly live without it) I would have liked to know what became of Pallas. I loved all the characters, loved the descriptions of the farm and cherry picking, but most of all, LOVED the satisfying ending.

It’s the summer of 2020, and the pandemic has brought Lara and Joe’s three grown daughters back to stay and work at the family cherry farm in Michigan. To pass the days, the girls insist that Lara tell them the story of her summer with a theater company in Tom Lake performing Our Town. The book then slips back and forth between the retelling of that summer’s adventures and Lara’s romance with an actor who has since become a movie star.

The pleasant result reveals the nature of relationships, both romantic and familial, and an exploration of the meaning of true love and connection. I enjoy every book I’ve read by Ann Patchett, and this one is especially beautiful in its elegant simplicity. The pace is leisurely, but the words’ impact lingers long after the last page.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for providing me with an advance copy of this book. My review is voluntary and reflects my honest opinion.

My goodness! This book is amazing! Ann Patchett’s books are always thoughtful and beautifully written but her latest may be my favorite yet! It comes out soon, Aug 8th, and if you have a soft spot for family stories, reminiscing about the seasons of life, and the play Our Town, this is the book for you! I loved the characters, they fully formed and compelling, even if they only play a small role in the story. The relationship this mom has with her daughters as she shares the story of a fleeting romance decades ago with a famous actor while picking cherries and being together during the pandemic is one I won’t forget!

I read the first half of Tom Lake slowly, savoring every part of it and loving the storytelling. It alternated between the past and present in a way that seemed so effortless. I love Ann Patchett's engaging and thoughtful writing style, and she seems to have a great deal of empathy with her characters. The pace intensified about halfway through the book, and I didn't want to put it down. I was in the cherry orchard with Emily, Maisie and Nell and could also feel what Lara was experiencing throughout her story -- before, during and after Tom Lake -- as well as in the present time. I would recommend to readers who enjoy a weightier approach to relationship fiction with well-developed, believable characters. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the Advance reader's copy. As of July 19, my library has about 14 holds per (print) copy -- I'm sure we're going to need to buy more!

Tom Lake
Ann Patchett
Pub Date August 8, 2023
Harper
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
In my opinion, this is a classic or will become one soon. It’s only the second Patchett book I have read. It it was truly amazing. A story about family and relationships. Loved the setting- Northern Michigan.
5 stars

In the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic a mother and her young adult daughters gather to tend to the needs of their fruit farm in Northern Michigan. As they work on the farm, Lara tells the girls the story of a summer when she was about their age. In the summer of 1998, she acted in a summer stock company and fell for a man who was destined to become a movie star.

I really appreciated the layers to this book. It's not about the pandemic, instead the emergency provides the framework for what the book meditates upon. It's about making peace with the choices of our youth, how much of our past we owe our children, and how one life can contain multitudes. Lara, Emily, Nell, and Joe are real people to me. Patchett creates real complicated people without making their faults a plot device or letting them overshadow the story. She is especially masterful with the character of Duke. He is a legend in the family, and a ghost for Lara.

The pacing of the book reflects the mood of pandemic lock down. It meanders in a pleasant way, taking its time but there is the edge to tone. Where is the story going? Is there a secret to be revealed? I simply loved the world built here. Patchett is a goddess of literature.

This is a deceptively simple story doing spectacular things.

It's a pandemic novel that manages to skirt around the anxiety of the time and instead delve into the unexpected silver linings of time slowed and plans changed. It's a family story that's tender without being saccharine. It deals with the generational differences that have emerged in the 21st century. It's a great man-genius story that relegates the great man to the sidelines and elevates the stories of the people around him. There's a strong, respectful, loving marriage at the center as well as a woman who has made her own choices, a family that has taught its daughters to be independent.

Structurally, I loved how the first person narration allows for the story to slip backward and forward in time and to allow the reader to get both the story the narrator is telling her daughters as well as a few extra details as the narrator reflects on her memories.

Things move a little slowly at first, but I found this story so compelling. Easily my favorite of Patchett's novels. I generally like her nonfiction essays better than her fiction, and maybe that's why. This book felt almost like a memoir or the musings that might lead to an essay.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

I adored this book. I always love Ann Patchett's book, but this one is probably my new favorite. It's so full of love and somehow walks the perfect line between being wonderfully fun and escapist, but also urgent and timely. I didn't want it to end.

This is my first Ann Patchett book and I really enjoyed it. It is so fascinating to consider who parents were before they became parents--especially witnessing their children discover this. Like her daughters, I loved learning more about Lara and her story. The characters were so vividly drawn and felt like old friends. Definitely a highlight of my reading year.

Another excellent offering from Patchett about a woman recounting the summer she dated a now-famous movie star to her three adult daughters when they are all home on their northern Michigan farm during the early days of the pandemic. Patchett has such a gift for language and for immersing her readers in whatever story she chooses to tell. This book had a peaceful, reflective tone and yet I was totally engrossed with the story Lara slowly spun out to her daughters. The play "Our Town" is central to this story, so if you're not familiar with it, you will benefit from reading a summary before you pick up this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Publishers for a digital review copy.

What a delight. For such a literary book, it's extremely readable. The characters are unique and drew me in immediately. Young love. Motherhood. Summer stock. Ann Patchett brings OUR TOWN into play in an entirely different way. Orchards. Michigan. Complicated people who are really just like you and me. It's already a classic in my mind.

In the summer of 2020, all of Lara's three daughters beg her to tell them the story of her summer romance with a famous author named Peter Duke. Lara and Peter starred together in a summer stock performance of the play, Our Town. This book pays homage to the Thorton Wilder play, and explores first love, growing up, life changes, grief, and mistakes we make in the past. It also brings you a story of a family, and how love can grow in both unexpected, and expected places. Patchett's writing is gorgeous and I love how she can describe a scene and make you feel a part of it without being overly wordy or superior. Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader ebook. I would love to read this again in hard back, and savor it.

What do children know of their parents before they became their parents? What will parents tell their children if given the chance? What will that parent feel telling some part of their story that is about, too, how their life became their life, all the little steps taken, the intention, the accidents, the fortuity, even the luck that has come their way - falling into the right life. We're with the Nelsons on their cherry and apple and pear farm in northern Michigan in the early months of the pandemic. And Lara Nelson, married to her love, Tom Nelson, whose family has owned the farm for generations, is the mother of three grown daughters, Emily, 26, who will take over the family farm, Maisie, 24, a veterinarian in training, and Nell, 22, who dreams of becoming an actress, and despite the pandemic, the suffering, she is glad to have them back all under the same roof once again. Gotten right is that experience some people had during the pandemic - the strange joy from being marooned amidst all the rest, the seeming end of the world. While the family harvests the cherry crop, while we learn about cherries and apples and pears, and the toil and backbreaking labor of farming, and as a result of the sudden death of a world-famous movie star, Duke, with whom Lara once acted during a summer stock season, the daughters ask their mother about her time with Duke, and what unspools is Lara's story, childhood, young adulthood, the play Our Town, her foray into acting and more. A gentle family drama toggling between past and present expertly, with a couple of surprises, one I guessed, one I didn't. Even as I felt, briefly, at times, the heavy hand of needing to be current - racism in a summer stock outfit, cancel culture, etc., that was outweighed by the pleasure of learning Lara's story, and spending time with her quick and diverse daughters.

Thanks to Harper and Netgalley for an ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Lucky for us, Ann Patchett is one heck of a storyteller.

This is a pastoral, quiet, gentle novel featuring two timelines; one during the pandemic on a family farm - cherry orchard, actually - with the Nelson family. This is not a pandemic novel, that's just background. The 2nd timeline is the story told by the mother, Lara Nelson (sometimes supported by husband, Joe) recounting to her adult daughters her days as a summer stock actor, told while doing the hard work of harvesting cherries.

It's not a complicated novel, but it's about so many things.

It's about the difficulty of family farms, and relationships in small town America.

It's about acting - specifically in the play, "Our Town," and about what summer stock was like 40 years ago. (For extra credit or a more fulfilling book group discussion, go back & read Wilder's "Our Town," and Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard." Not required, but a nice accompaniment.) There's a small stint in Hollywood, even smaller in NYC, but it's really about community theater.

It's about the beauty of rural Michigan summer in both timelines. It's what makes this a real summer novel: laying in the grass, swimming in the lake, the heat, the cabins, the farm stands.

It's about being young and independent for the first time - and too young to appreciate it. And it's about young love and its betrayal. The advantage of the storytelling means Lara is now old enough to truly appreciate it; the best of both worlds. Patchett does a lovely job of putting youth (with its excitement, excesses & passions) in perspective.

The characters are compelling, complex, and realistic; they tell their truths & keep their secrets (but not from us). There are enough twisties to make it a quick & gratifying read, including a poignant ending. Some may find the end predictable or trite; I think she stuck the landing.

I wish I had that rope hammock of my youth; it would have been the perfect summer setting in which to read Tom Lake.

PS: I see that Meryl Streep reads the audio book!

Absolutely loved this - had almost a melodic feel, like listening to a symphony. Will highly recommend to customers and would love Ann Patchett to visit our store!

This is a beautiful novel about family, love , and growing up. In the spring of 2020 Lara’s three daughters return to the family orchard in Northern Michigan. While they are picking cherries the beg there. Mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke. He was a famous actor with whom she shared a stage and romance with many years ago. The theater company was called Tom Lake..All of her daughters listen to the story and start to ponder their mother and the world. This was a great read as usual by Ann Patchett.

As a devoted fan of both Ann Patchett and Michigan sweet cherries, Tom Lake was "delicious" on all counts! Please take the advice of the author and familiarize yourself with the play Our Town by Thornton Wilder before reading Tom Lake as there are important insights to gain.

Tom Lake is the story of a cherry farming family in Northern Michigan trying to harvest the summer crop on their own during Covid without the usual help of their farm workers. Lara, the mother, tells her three daughters the story of her discovery of acting and how the aftereffects of playing the pivotal role of Emily over a number of years affected both her relationships and her life. Lara's storytelling to her daughters is a retrospective of her life and especially her relationship with famous actor, Peter Duke. Lara is deft at editing what she tells her children what they most want to know, but we as readers get an expanded look at that romantic Michigan summer and the theater group at Tom Lake. Ann Patchett tells a perfectly paced dual narrative story--the storyteller tells us a story of discovery.
The author creates a beautiful and poignant picture of a woman and her family through seemingly insignificant events and stories. What seemed essential at one point in Lara's life is viewed differently in retrospect. Lara was able to rethink her path forward from her youthful dreams and was able to live the life she wanted, savoring those things that really matter to her. Ann Patchett is a master of finding those quiet and careful insights into human nature. Tom Lake is a novel of different kinds of love, both youthful and married love, but especially of love that endures.
Thank you to NetGalley for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this novel.

This novel is a masterpiece. Ann Patchett writes so beautifully, about the most normal people, in the most seemingly insignificant moments of life and creates the most powerful stories I’ve ever read. This is a mother daughter story, it is a pandemic novel, it is a marriage portrait, and it is a coming of age tale. Lara tells her daughters about the one summer she spent as an actress at Tom Lake, and the impact that summer had upon her life—and therefore, how it formed the lives of her girls, It is absolutely beautiful, and I loved every page. This will be one of my favorite books of this year, or any year.

I cannot read an Ann Patchett book with any objectivity whatsoever. Patchett's a genius at telling stories about every day lives without boring anyone. Tom Lake is gorgeous and kind of fun, and managed to mirror so many of my pandemic feelings. I will recommend this to everyone.