THE LAKE HOUSE (Kate Morton)

I've had 2 of Kate Morton's books sitting in my house for months, just waiting to be read!  In my usual way, though, if I own it I can save it for a rainy day when I really need something to read.  Working in a library, however, means that the rainy day never comes, since I'm immersed in great books every day!

Several friends have read and raved about Kate Morton, so when The Lake House was published I placed a hold and just went ahead and read it (despite excellent weather)!  What a joy!  This is just the type of novel that I especially like: set in several different historical eras and employing alternating narrators.  Morton engages the reader in a long unsolved disappearance, the mystery of an abandoned estate, and a modern-day investigator slowly becoming obsessed with solving the 70-year-old case.  Best of all, it's set in Cornwall, which has to be the most dramatic, romantic, mysterious part of England.

Alice Edevane was sixteen in 1933 when her 11-month-old brother, Theo, disappeared without a trace the night of the Edevane family's annual Midsummer's Eve party.  The Edevane family abandons Loeanneth soon afterwards, never to return.  Loeanneth was originally the childood home of Alice's mother, Eleanor DeShiel and is eventually willed to Alice, who is now a very successful mystery writer in her 80's.  Alice seems to prefer to keep the mystery of her beloved brother's disappearance unsolved.

When Sadie Sparrow is ordered to take a "holiday" from the Metropolitan Police after her over-involvement in a controversial case endangers her reputation and her career, she travels to Cornwall to visit her beloved grandfather, Bertie.  When she discovers Loeanneth she becomes interested in the family's history and in Theo's disappearance and begins to investigate "unofficially."  Morton is a superb writer.  I became convinced several times during the course of the novel that I knew what happened to Theo, and each time, as the story unfolded, I was proven wrong.  This is one of those books that you want NEVER to end, but at the same time you can't wait to find out how it ends.  all I can say is that if you want to spend several hours completely immersed in a story that you don't want to put down, read this one!