In Cathy Gohlke's novel, Ladies of the Lake, Addie MacNeill is orphaned at age twelve. Her older half-brother sells the family home in Prince Edward Island and ships Addie off to a Lakeside Ladies' Academy in Connecticut.
Some of the older girls pick on Addie for her newness and different ways. But she surprises herself by finding three dear friends: Dot, Susannah, and Ruth. Eventually they dub themselves the "ladies of the lake" and plan to meet together regularly once they've graduated.
When Lucy Laude Montgomery publishes Anne of Green Gables, set in Addie's beloved PEI, Addie writes to her. The two begin a regular correspondence, and Montgomery encourages Addie in her own writing endeavors.
But trouble stirs when Addie and Dot fall in love with the same young man, Stephen. Over time as he favors one over the other, jealousy and deceit escalate between the girls and ruins their friendship.
WWI is brewing, and Ruth lost her brother in the Lusitania bombing, so she's prejudiced against Germans. Stephen Meyer and his brother, Jonas, are as American as they come. But their parents still have a heavy German accent. Soon the rest of the community joins in persecuting and ostracizing the Meyers.
Addie is called to Halifax to help her sister-in-law through the end of her pregnancy and delivery. While there, the colliding of two ships sparks the Halifax Explosion, which killed and injured thousands and destroyed homes and buildings. Addie lost her brother and his family and was deeply burned and scarred. Believing that Steven had chosen Dot, Addie decides to change her name to Rosaline Murray and make a new start.
Seventeen years later, Rosaline's daughter, Bernadette, is about to graduate from Lakeside Ladies' Academy and dearly wants her mother to come. Rosaline is sensitive about traveling outside of Halifax with her scars. But worse than that, she doesn't want to face Dot, who is now the headmistress of the Academy.
Dot herself has struggled with secrets for seventeen years now. Believing Addie died in the explosion, Dot has no way to make things right. But when Bernadette starts reminding her of Addie, Dot wonders if Addie could possibly be alive. Could she ever face her again?
Rosaline and Dot resist the things they need to do the most: face each other and confess their wrongdoings and apologize. Their inner torment threatens to hurt themselves and those they love.
I enjoyed this story so much. I loved the characters and how the plot unfolded. The correspondence with Montgomery was a fun element. I had never heard of the devastating Halifax explosion. I loved how the author told it from the standpoint of those affected.
I listened to the audiobook which, sadly, did not contain the author's end notes. I would have loved to learn more about what inspired the author.
Cathy Gohlke has written another winner that I can highly recommend.
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