LADIES OF THE LAKE is an engrossing dual timeline story that will be perfect for book clubs.

We have one narrative in the 1910s and another in 1935., one set in Canada (Halifax) and another in the Northeast (CT). The author does a beautiful job of conveying evocative setting details.

Addie, Dot, Ruth, and Susannah form an immediate friendship that is relatable and believable. As a reader, we want that friendship to endure through life's hardships.

Over the years, the friendship faces many challenges, including war and tragedy as the story moves at a nice pace and we are curious to see everything wrapped up in the end.

I received this as an ARC from Tyndale and Netgalley. I really enjoyed this novel and honestly it makes me wish I was a part of this friendship group. The women lived and supported one another in a way I don’t see much in society. This is a good read!

I have loved many of Cathy Gohlke’s books, but perhaps this one the most. Her writing game is certainly strong!

I enjoyed learning of a historical event I’d never heard of. I ached with the Ladies of the Lake as they grew and learned and suffered; I exulted in their wins; and I couldn’t wait to hear how their stories ended.

While I guessed where the book was going, I didn’t foresee the entire ending which is always a pleasant surprise.

You won’t regret this read, the historical info you’ll gain, and the valuable reminders of forgiveness and overcoming fear.

Oh. My.
I loved everything about this dual-time story by Cathy Gohlke.
The story takes place in the 1910s and in 1935, between the Atlantic provinces of Canada and Connecticut, USA (how refreshing to have a Canadian setting!). Addie, Dot, Ruth and Susannah meet at a school for young ladies and form an instant friendship. The story follows the early years of forming this friendship and the vows they make to each other. Then love, war, and catastrophe will challenge those vows, demonstrating the complexities that friendship and love bring.
This story takes place just before the Great War – a time when German Americans were under suspicion – and during the war when Halifax experienced the worst home-front maritime disaster in 1917. These disasters play a pivotal role in challenging the vows once made between friends.
Seventeen years later, a young woman will bring the friends together, challenging everything they once believed about themselves and each other.
It’s a brilliant story, full of heartaches, joys, and reflective moments.
Readers will fall in love with the characters, and even dislike Mean Margaret. Descriptions pull the reader into the story world, making it easy to picture the winter festival on the Meyer’s property and Halifax’s Harbour.
Fans of Anne of Green Gables will especially love the references to LM Montgomery.
I received an ecopy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Ladies of the Lake by Cathy Gohlke is a great historical fiction that I really enjoyed.

This book has it all: history, stunning landscapes, suspense, mystery, friendships, love, loss, hope, and forgiveness. The author does an amazing job crafting an intricate, powerful, emotional, and compelling story about what it means to accept, love, forgive, and find strength within ourselves, each other, and through our faith.
The complexity, importance, and impact that the relationships that these women had, and how they altered were impressively depicted. It is real and beautifully told.

I also like that it covered the events surrounding the Halifax explosion in 1917. I learned quite a few things about this devastating event.


5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Tyndale House Publishers for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 7/11/23.

Addie has been orphaned and her older brother doesn't want her around, so he makes arrangements to send her to a girls' boarding school in Connecticut. Addie's first friend is Dorothy, or Dot, as she likes to be called. Two more friends follow soon after, Ruth and Susannah. Addie's first nemesis is Mildred, who takes great delight in tormenting Addie and enslaving her.

This book is a dual time novel surrounding both world wars and events that happened in between. This is a hard book to read, not because of the dual time, but because of the depth of the plot lines. I am not saying it shouldn't be read, I am saying it takes concentration and contemplation and the reward is incredibly satisfying.

One of the events that plays a major part in the book is the Halifax Explosion of 1917. This is an actual historical event that the author used to propel the plot.

After Addie graduated from the girls' school, she became an assistant teacher there, until she caught some girls from the school tormenting some of the men in town with white feathers (symbol of cowardice), especially targeting one man who was developmentally delayed, but he knew enough to understand what they were saying. Because the girls perpetrating this act of bullying were daughters of important people to the school, they were believed over Addie. When the man commits suicide, and their actions come to light, Addie is brought back to the school to teach, but only until her brother's wife has their baby. In the days following the baby's birth, the explosion happens and for all intents and purposes, Addie is dead. The other girls in Addie's friend group from the school still got together periodically and renewed their friendship and mourned Addie.

There were some events that happened in the book that make me sit back and wonder about my own family and the hardships they might have gone through because of the anti-German sentiments.

Some of the tension in the plot revolves around Addie and Dorothy loving the same man, and eventually around the secrets Dorothy held from those she loved. As the plot starts to wind up, it seems to me that Cathy Gohlke, the author, pushed some of the elements to tie up the loose ends of the plot. It was the only area where I felt the story was forced. It was definitely hard to put down and I did lose sleep over finishing it. Actually, the writing was excellent for the most part. I've truly enjoyed every book by Cathy that I've read. This is certainly a four star book, and I would read it again.

Tyndale House provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

LADIES OF THE LAKE by CATHY GOHLKE is a really lovely read and one I can highly recommend for anyone who enjoys an inspirational historical romance novel with a good Christian message of restoration and the importance of forgiveness and walking in truth with one another. I particularly like the inclusion of the description of the virtuous wife in Proverbs 31:10-31.
The characters and their emotions are very real, and I like to see their development, especially that of thr students as they grow into adulthood and face the results of choices they have made.
The story starts in the early 1900’s with the four friends, Addie, Dot, Susannah and Ruth swearing everlasting friendship in the gazebo at Lakeside Ladies Academy, where they promise to meet annually. Their motto is “all for one and one for all,” but life does not always turn out as one hopes it will. A combination of the war, racial hatred, secrets, bullying, arguments, jealousy, pride, guilt and misfortune cause a break in friendship, especially in Dot and Addie’s case. In 1917 with the explosion in the Halifax harbour, Addie, disfigured and hurting, has an opportunity to disappear and make a new life for herself, her precious baby daughter, Bernadette, and Portia, who has lost her family in the explosion. As Ruth says, “The war changed us all, really, some scars we carry on the outside, but some we carry deep within.”
I am not going to tell you any more for fear of spoiling things for you…….
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Tyndale House Publishers. The opinions in this review are completely my own.