• The Lake of Dreams

  • A Novel
  • By: Kim Edwards
  • Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
  • Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
  • 3.4 out of 5 stars (218 ratings)

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The Lake of Dreams  By  cover art

The Lake of Dreams

By: Kim Edwards
Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
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Publisher's summary

The highly anticipated new novel from the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

With revelations that prove as captivating as the deceptions at the heart of her best-selling phenomenon The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards now gives us the story of a woman's homecoming, a family secret, and the old house that holds the key to the true legacy of a family. At a crossroads in her life, Lucy Jarrett returns home from Japan, only to find herself haunted by her father's unresolved death a decade ago. Old longings stirred up by Keegan Fall, a local glass artist who was once her passionate first love, lead her into the unexpected. Late one night, as she paces the hallways of her family's rambling lakeside house, she discovers, locked in a window seat, a collection of objects that first appear to be useless curiosities, but soon reveal a deeper and more complex family past. As Lucy discovers and explores the traces of her lineage00from an heirloom tapestry and dusty political tracts to a web of allusions depicted in stained-glass windows throughout upstate New York-the family story she has always known is shattered, Lucy's quest for the truth reconfigures her family's history, links her to a unique slice of the suffragette movement, and yields dramatic insights that embolden her to live freely. With surprises at every turn, brimming with vibrant detail, The Lake of Dreams is an arresting saga in which every element emerges as a carefully place piece of the puzzle that's sure to enthrall the millions of readers who loved The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

©2010 Kim Edwards (P)2010 Penguin

What listeners say about The Lake of Dreams

Average customer ratings
Overall
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Story
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Much Ado about...what?

Despite the fact that I didn't think this book compares favorably to this writer's previous novel, "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" it is still an interesting listen and highly "credit-worthy".

I disagree with the hype I've seen on some other sites that say "Kim Edwards goes to Japan" or something similar. Actually this book has little whatever to do with Japan, and that part of the world is just an entry point for the story.

I thought Edwards had a good thing going in "Memory Keeper" because of the awkward situation presented at the beginning of the novel, and the difficult dilemma that forms the spine of the narrative from that point onward. In that way this setup reminded me so much of Jodi Picoult's work or novels by Chris Bojahlian.

"The Lake of Dreams", however, has none of this going on and it feels as though the story is missing a dimension. It's all about a woman obsessed with her geneaology and relationship to a stained glass luminary from the 1920's and 30's - all of which made me sigh and say so what? Edwards even leaves out the logical hookup with two of the main players. Mixed in is the usual dysfunctional family with plenty of real estate resources and financial assets to fight about, and the pc tone of it all makes it almost sound preachy. Compare to the neutral tone of "The Memory Keeper's Daughter".

The book is extremely well-written, despite the clich?? of using a story within a story told by a package of hand-written letters - as usual, wrapped and tied by the typical ribbon bow - but overdoes it on description and could have been about half as long. The style is quite baroque and poetic, if you want to call it that, which is further compounded by the narrator's painstakingly slow reading.

I hope that Kim Edwards soon returns to her more edgy themes.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

I couldn't make it through..

You know how you try and try to like a book? You feel like you SHOULD like it because you like the author. Kind of like the boyfriend you want to dump but don't know how because it's hard to break up with someone simply because he's too nice and you find him utterly boring? That's how this book made me feel. 7 hours into it and I still don't care about the characters. The narrator has a lilty singsong voice that could send you into a diabetic coma with it's overdone saccharine sweetness of the dialogue. I'm breaking up with this book and downloading something else. Life is too short for bad books.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring narrator

Though I found the book interesting, I felt the narrator turned it into a long, boring audible book. Her voice spoke each word as if it were so important that it made the entire book very anticlimatic. If another narrator had read it, I think that my interest would have been held much more. The narrator could have sped up her voice just a little and not ended each sentence with a hanging explanation point.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I loved it

What made the experience of listening to The Lake of Dreams the most enjoyable?

I liked the narrator despite the other reviews.

Any additional comments?

I read the reviews and have now listened to the audiobook 3 times. I think the narrator has a sense of peacefulness in her voice, it does not seem slow to me. For those of us obsessed with genealogy, this audiobook fit the bill. I found myself wishing I could find out what Lucy had found out and to actually find a relative in their family still alive is priceless. I enjoyed the story and will listen to it again.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Get to the point already!

What disappointed you about The Lake of Dreams?

Excessively wordy, overly dramatic, extremely drawn out.

Would you ever listen to anything by Kim Edwards again?

Probably not.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Too breathy & overly dramatic.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Lake of Dreams?

I would have pared down nearly every scene by removing at least half of the mind-numbing details. I kept thinking, get to the point.

Any additional comments?

This story could have been told in half the time. This not-so-exciting story was buried in distracting minutia. The excessive detail give the reader the impression the author attempted to bulk up a so-so story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen!


This reader is a favorite of mine - she can dramatize the story so that she never seems like a reader and adds an etherial quality to a very good story of a family history. I hated to reach the end.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Boring and slow

Not to often I stop a book and trash it but I did this one.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Sweet Story

Initially I hated this narrator. She spoke so slowly, I had to incresase the speed for a good part of the book. However as I kept reading and the story unfolded I truly enjoyed this sweet little story. And the narrator actually worked with the overall tone of the book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I want to enjoy this book, but I just can’t…

The story is REALLY slow getting started. I’m in chapter 5, and I could probably get through except the narrators voice just makes it unbearable.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

so many good lines and ideas not enough revision,!

I just kept imagining what this book could have been . Too much description too many stories. Lucy in her 20s maybe but little empathy or awareness of others . Such a good writer deserves a better editor!

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