Family secrets and lies are the subjects of Kim Edwards‘s new book, The Lake of Dreams which follows a young woman as she tracks the life of an ancestor expunged from her family’s history.

Lucy Jarrett comes home to an upstate New York village in the finger lakes region called the Lake of Dreams after years working overseas. A decade ago, she left for college following her father’s death in a mysterious boating accident, blaming herself for refusing to go fishing with him that night. And she’s been traveling ever since, “from college to grad school, from good jobs to better ones and through a whole series of romances, leaving all that grief behind.”

When Lucy arrives, every thing is different. She finds herself lost in the progress of every one else’s lives.

Then Lucy discovers a stack of old papers in a room that’s been closed off since her father died. They include fliers from the early 20th-century feminist movement and a note from 1925, signed only with the initial R, that refers to a 14-year-old girl, Iris, being sent away from home.

Ultimately, Lucy immerses herself in ferreting out the awesome story of her lost ancestor. But unfortunately for the novel, Edwards crams all of the plot into a scant two-week time span filled with impossibly convenient and obvious discoveries, making it feel much too contrived. Lucy’s revelations are overly long anticipated and make it an absolute grind to read through ten pages of sentimental muck to arrive at the very conclusion that Edwards pointed to in the previous chapter.

However.

What I really enjoyed most about the book is the the story of Lucy’s lost ancestor, Rose and the moment she clicked and discovered her feminism and became involved in the feminist movement. Now that is a good story!

Confession: I’ve not read Edwards’s first novel, and best-seller, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter so I can’t tell you how The Lake of Dreams compares, but I can tell you that it is a look inside how circumstances can shape a life; and how altering one’s perspective (or truth) can change that life all over again. And that despite it’s ambition, the novel is beautifully written with lots of vivid imagery.

To find out more, or to read other reviewers’ take on the novel, join me over at the BlogHer Book Club where we’ll be discussing Kim Edwards’ The Lake of Dreams for the next month. Come join the conversation!

*Disclosure: I was remunerated for this review. All opinions are my own.