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Tom Lake

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About this listen

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 Ann Patchett (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Heartfelt

Critic reviews

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)
All stars
Most relevant
Merely Streep is a dream narrator and she could read me stories forever. The novel is beautifully crafted, evoking landscapes and characters in a perfectly paced way. It is also a tribute to American insularity. I can imagine no other novel if it’s ambition from anywhere else in the world being so contained in the bubble of its own culture. Even Chekhov is somehow appropriated.

Very lovely; very American.

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I just didn’t want it to end,the book was so beautifully written and Meryl Streep doing the narration was just an amazing bonus

Beautiful

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Of course, Meryl Streep reads this novel magnificently but it’s a superb book in its own right. The characters are clearly defined, likeable and believable, while the plot has a surprising number of twists. British readers will probably not be familiar with the play ‘Our Town’ which is central to to the story but that doesn’t matter. I saw a production of ‘Our Town’ once and it was too sentimental for my taste. There were times when I worried that ‘Tom Lake’ was going the same way but Ann Pratchett just about kept things on the right side of the line.

Very powerful

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This audio book is like eating chocolate - a masterclass performance of a delicious story. A real treat.

Outstanding

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A lovely easy-listen read in the beautiful voice of Meryl Streep. She brings you into the story and the characters and you feel like you’re there with them all.

I could listen to Meryl Streep all day!

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