The stories of our past… that stay alive in our hearts. ~Sheila

In the Summer of 2020, Lara and Joe Nelson brought their three adult daughters to the family Orchard to be together during Quarantine. For Lara and Joe, it’s an incredibly rare opportunity to bring the girls home for an extended period of time. For the girls, Emily, Massie, and Nell, it’s a chance to get to know their parents beyond the roles of “mom and dad”.

While harvesting cherries, the girls prod their mom to open up about her college days and her acting career – more specifically, her time and her romance with the famous Peter Duke, who, years after that time on Tom Lake with Lara, went on to be an Oscar Winner.

While Lara lets her story unfold, she knows what she will tell her eager daughters – and what is hers to keep… but oh…. the memories.

To be honest, I was looking for my next good listen. I have spent too much time lately poring over previews of audio and, for one reason or another, finding it hard to find the snippets engaging… be it the start of the book moving too slowly, the narrator not grabbing me, whatever… I was browsing online lists of great listens and found Tom Lake among the highly recommended.- Narrated by Meryl Streep, I had to listen.

Tom Lake was a nice listen that really fits any season. Lara is our storyteller and the book narrator. When her girls are eager for the story of her connection to Peter Duke, Lara gives them so much more, knowing from the start what she will share and what she will not.

The narration flows between the present time of the family together and Lara sharing her college days, dreams of acting, and of course, leading into her meeting and getting to know Duke. It was a smooth read, a nice listen, obviously different (welcomingly so) from the twisty psychological thrillers I find myself often drawn to, as grab-and-go” reads this time of year.

Streep is the perfect narrator for this book, and makes it easy to picture this family on their orchard together during COVID, sharing stories…I have always said – not everything about COVID was bad… in some ways it brought us back to what is important.

I’m no stranger to Anne Patchett’s books, yet sadly, when I did a search through Book Journey, I found no reviews other than a Read-A -Long of Bel Canto in 2012 (and looks like I was the one who put it together!); however, I see no review of the book. That may call for a do-over.

Rated: 4 out of 5
Read Author Before: yes
Read Author Again: I hope to dig into more of her titles
Where Read: Audio – home and traveling locally
Discussion worthy: Yes – I think this book would make for a nice group discussion. Topics centering around COVID and how we spent our time and what you woudl consider good things that came out of it (IE – a renewed closeness to family, a time to slow down, learning a new hobby or engaging in one you had not had time for, sharing your past with your children- Yay or Nay