Tom Lake

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What to expect

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 *

Critics Review

A bittersweet tale of family, heartbreak and hope ... Those who want fiction to soothe, bolster and cheer will love it
Guardian
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
Sunday Times
Tom Lake is a gentle, sun-dappled book stuffed with sage parental wisdom
Times
Patchett is the best storyteller of family life ... the characters are so believable and she writes so beautifully
Prima
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
i
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
Financial Times
Patchett is always great on family dysfunction, and these scenes prickle to life
The Times
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
Harper's Bazaar
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
Telegraph
Completely absorbing
Grazia
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time ... Everyone will enjoy this
Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club
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
Elle
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
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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
Bookseller, Book of the Month
Few authors can match Patchett in her skill for creating quietly profound novels that stay with readers long after the final page
Good Housekeeping, Book of the Year Pick
Dazzling … Secrets are withheld in a story that offers small plot twists and reveals that pack the power of a defibrillator shock. The characters are varied and astutely drawn and the way Patchett – who has been writing great fiction for decades – handles Lara’s inner life is sublime
Independent, Book of the Year Pick

User Reviews

Book 4.2
Narration 4.6
2.0
3.0
Harley 23/08/2025
5.0
5.0
JazzyB25 09/07/2025
5.0
5.0
Lovely gentle story of a family, like a long summer's day, beautifully narrated by Mery Streep.
Bridget73 02/03/2025
5.0
5.0
Sue Steele 16/10/2024
4.0
5.0
Jo Robins 19/07/2024

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