The Lake House

by Kate Morton 

This is another book that takes place in different time periods with different characters, the exception being Alice.  It was a slow start for me when it began with Alice, age 16, written like a 16-year-old.  It improved from there and by the time I met a few of the other characters, including Alice at age 86, I loved it. 

The story tells of a midsummer party in 1933 at the isolated Lake House, when Alice’s 18-month-old brother, Theo, was taken.  In 2003, Sadie Sparrow, an investigator, on leave, visits her grandfather, Bertie, in Cornwall.  While running she happens upon the Lake House, learns its story from her grandfather and his friend, and, being an investigator, begins to search for Theo.  There are plenty of twists and turns, many people who could have abducted Theo, but Sadie eventually learns the truth with the help of Alice and her sister.

Quotes

(I love this quote, possibly because I was raised this way.)  Narrator speaking of Alice’s thoughts as an adult:  “Why as it that so much of the paraphernalia left over from the war made it seem as if it had been polite or quaint or mannerly, when in fact it had been fierce and deadly?  People had been different back then, more stoical.  There was far less talk of one’s emotions.  People were taught from childhood not to cry when they were hurt, to be good losers, not to acknowledge fears.  Even Nanny Rose, who was sweetness personified, would have frowned to see tears when she poured iodine onto scrapes and scratches.  Children were expected to face their fate when it came for them.  Very useful skills, as it turned out, during wartime; indeed, as they were in life.”    p. 228 ¶2

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