Tom Lake

Description

In the midst of the pandemic, Lara tells her three daughters a story from long ago: a summer stock season when she played Emily in *Our Town* and found herself drawn into a brief, luminous romance with the handsome, famous actor Peter Duke. As the rehearsal rooms, backstage rituals, and small-town performances unfold, Lara’s memories braid together youthful love and the steadier, harder-won love of marriage. With warmth and precision, the novel explores how parents carry their pasts alongside the lives they build for their children—watching them grow, change, and reach for paths that will never be fully theirs to control. Ann Patchett’s signature blend of lyrical realism and emotional clarity turns theater, family, and longing into a deeply intimate meditation on time, devotion, and what remains when the curtain falls.

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