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Tom Lake

The Sunday Times bestseller - a BBC Radio 2 and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick

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Tom Lake

By: Ann Patchett
Narrated by: Meryl Streep
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Bloomsbury presents Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, read by Meryl Streep.

The breathtaking new novel from Ann Patchett – a Sunday Times and No. 1 New York Times bestseller

‘Filled with the moments I live for in a story’
BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry

‘[Tom Lake] has it all ... Young love, sibling rivalry and deep mother-daughter relationships’
REESE WITHERSPOON

‘One of the most beloved authors of her generation’
SUNDAY TIMES

There's more to every love story than what we choose to tell...

It’s spring and Lara’s three grown daughters have returned to the family orchard. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the one story they’ve always longed to hear – of the film star with whom she shared a stage, and a romance, years before.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents lead before their children are born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.

‘One of our greatest living chroniclers of love and marriage … Expect wonder; Patchett always delivers’ ELLE

* SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 *
* A REESE WITHERSPOON AND BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK *
* A 2023 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES *©2023 HarperCollins Publishers Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

A bittersweet tale of family, heartbreak and hope ... Those who want fiction to soothe, bolster and cheer will love it
A beautiful, stirring book that sneaks up on you and makes a deep impression ... The moment I finished it, I wanted to go back and start again
Tom Lake is a gentle, sun-dappled book stuffed with sage parental wisdom
Patchett is the best storyteller of family life ... the characters are so believable and she writes so beautifully
Few authors can dig into the minutiae of human emotion quite like the Women’s Prize-winning author, and Tom Lake is one of her best ... Flitting between past and present, the novel spools out like a film, and ponders timeless questions about love, family and destiny
Thoughtful and elegiac in its descriptions of first love and motherhood ... Patchett celebrates not just the smallest events of our lives, but 'small' lives themselves
Patchett is always great on family dysfunction, and these scenes prickle to life
A twinned narrative of a past young love, present day nostalgia and the complex, intertwined connections between mothers and daughters ... Enchanting and bittersweet, it is another tour de force from Patchett
A deeply American story of love, heartbreak and wistful old age ... We’re in nostalgic summer romance territory, and Tom Lake delivers the expected emotional pay-off
Completely absorbing
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time ... Everyone will enjoy this (Sarah Pascoe)
Elegant, gloriously immersive, beautifully imagined, funny and tender, this is an elegy to family love, even when the world is in a state of crisis and uncertainty. Ann Patchett leads us with the intelligence, detail, wit and nuance of the greatest chroniclers of human nature and relationships. Nothing escapes her (Rachel Joyce)
Filled with the moments I live for in a story – careful, compelling insights into human nature, the most effortless humour, and the kind of vivid descriptions that reveal exactly how something is (Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY)
One of our greatest living chroniclers of love and marriage – and its resounding impacts over generations – is back this summer ... Expect wonder; Patchett always delivers
Patchett’s intricate and subtle thematic web ... enfolds the nature of storytelling, the evolving dynamics of a family, and the complex interaction between destiny and choice ... These braided strands culminate in a denouement at once deeply sad and tenderly life-affirming. Poignant and reflective, cementing Patchett’s stature as one of our finest novelists
Masterly ... A love letter to both storytelling itself and the bonds that tie family and friends together, Patchett has once again worked her unique brand of magic with this gentle, tender story that glows with heart and humanity
Few authors can match Patchett in her skill for creating quietly profound novels that stay with readers long after the final page
All stars
Most relevant
What an inspired way to tell a story. Ann Patchet thank you. I love this book.
Using the necessity of families being together for extended periods during “lock down” to reveal the story of the parent’s past. Genius.
So full of insight into the way we relate to our children’s generation - and they to us. It all rang true.
As ever Ann Patchet produces an engaging story and a social commentary. She’s up there with Jane Austen.

Beautifully written. Beautifully read.

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This is one of the best audiobooks I have listened to. The combination of Meryl Streep’s voice and the golden, nostalgic, bittersweet storytelling is absolutely sublime. I am recommending to everyone I can.

Glorious!

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This book is much too long. I thought the opening chapters about the Our Town auditions went on forever. When the action moves over to Tom Lake it really takes off and Meryl Streep as Lara is fabulous.

Merely Streep is a great narrator

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Such a wonderful book - gentle and heartfelt. I loved it! The fact that it is read by Meryl Streep just adds to its charm.

Sublime

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Meryl Streep's narration is just perfect. I could visualise her as Lara / Emily. The story unravels - flitting back and forth from the present in the pandemic of 2021 to Lara's younger self as an actress. Very different from the other Ann Patchett book I love - Bel Canto - but yet another wonderful piece of work with believable characters. It draws you in and makes me want to both travel to Michigan and to reread Chekov's Cherry Orchard too.

Wonderful - it took me to the cherry orchard

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