Ladies of the Lake is a historical fiction novel about four young girls who meet at boarding school a few years before WWI. They come from very different backgrounds but are able to form a strong sisterhood. They refer to themselves as the "Ladies of the Lake." As the years pass, they overcome unimaginable obstacles and make life altering mistakes. But through it all, they are able to come back together, forgive each other and rebuild their beautiful friendship.

I was so pleasantly surprised with this book! I thought the concept sounded fun and would make an enjoyable audiobook but it started off a little slow. Then, things got moving and I was invested! The characters are well developed and even when they made HUGE mistakes, you are still rooting for them!

If you enjoy stories about friendship, found family, forgiveness and overcoming adversity- you will love this book! Great for fans of LM Montgomery (who is even a small character in the book!)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wonderful friendships that is taking over by life and war. The audio was wonderful and very inspiring Narrator voice very soothing. I would read this book and buy it especially though the audio edition. I loved the history part

1910- After the death of her parents, young Adelaide MacNeill’s much older brother decides it’s best to send her off to a private boarding in the United States. Heartbroken and alone, young Addie bravely embarks on a journey from her beloved home on PEI to the Connecticut boarding school, where despite being frightened and alone, she quickly forges a friendship with her assigned roommates. Through the years the girls become inseparable and they dub themselves ‘The Ladies of the Lake, vowing to always be there for one another but love, jealousy, and war begin to break down the foundation of their friendship and lies, deceit and misguided choices irrevocably change them forever.

I loved so much about this story. I loved the friendship the girls shared early on despite coming from different social and economic backgrounds. They were more alike than different and I loved the family they formed. I also loved the older women that became lifelong role models/mentors to Addie (Mrs. Simmons, Portia and ML Montgomery). Best of all I loved the many references to Anne of Green Gables and the Little Women vibe that wrapped around me like a favorite blanket on a damp rainy day.

Set against the back drop of America and Canada during the early days of WWI, the author pens a fantastic story capturing the details of the time period lending authenticity. All the characters, even those with secondary roles are sensitively written, beautifully drawn and brilliantly nuanced. The story is told in somewhat of a dual timeline format, or more so a before and after of defining moments occurring in December 2017. I laughed, I cried and was inspired by this beautiful story about the enduring power of friendship and love, and the healing strength of forgiveness.

Stephanie Richardson does a fantastic job breathing life into the character with her narration. It was absolutely stunning.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to preview and advance audiobook of this wonderful story. This is my honest review and the opinions expressed above are my own

This captivating tale brought me to tears multiple times and left me with a message of enduring love, friendship, forgiveness, and gratitude with a Biblical thread woven through it all. Loved loved loved this one!!!!
Ladies of the Lake is written from the perspectives of two best friends, Addie and Dot who are both students at Lakeside Ladies Academy in Connecticut in the early 1900s. The book follows their lives from childhood into adulthood and alternates perspectives and timelines. Mystery abounds as the story unfolds and the reader is wondering what happened to break these two friends apart for many years. This is an extremely compelling plot with action, suspense, and real life historical events.
Thank you to Tyndale House for the digital
ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I just finished reading Ladies of the Lake. Set between 1913 and the years immediately after WWI, it chronicles the friendship of four young ladies attending Lakeside Ladies Academy in Connecticut.

Adelaide is from Prince Edward Island. Ruth is from a nearby farm. Addie, in particular, is bullied by her "older girl". She and Ruth, along with Susannah and Dorothy, partner to get even. The young ladies form a tight bond, and agree to meet at the lakeside gazebo every year after graduation.

Life gets in the way, and changes the most sincere plans. Love, jealousy, and misunderstandings affect relationships.

I really enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it for ladies who enjoy historical fiction and women's literature.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital audio copy of this title from Net Galley.

#LadiesoftheLake#CathyGohlke#NetGalley

I received a copy of this audio book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity.

The Ladies of the Lake by Cathy Gohlke is a Christian novel focused on four women who attend a boarding school in Connecticut. They form a lifelong friendship. The story alternates between their school days, and seventeen years after graduation.

The time period encompasses WWI, and the Great Depression. The book explores prejudice, bullying, loss and grief. The author interweaves spiritual themes of hospitality, forgiveness, and the power of prayer throughout the story.

The book's narrator, Stephanie Richardson, provides a smooth performance.

Overall, this is an engrossing story that is well worth the reader's time. I will look for other novels Cathy Gohlke has written.

I have to admit I was super excited when I got this one on audio, but it honestly let me down quite a bit. It was just really slow. Still would purchase for a friend!

This is a really touching story. I love historical fiction when it teaches me something new about history through a wonderful story.

The characters in the book were developed so well that I became emotionally attached to them while reading. This book is about forgiveness and what it means to be friends forever, no matter what happens. Sounds so easy, but it proves to be hard as life happens to each of us.

Cathay Gohike based this book on history during two time frames and places. First, 1910-1917 in Connecticut when the girls were young. Second, 1917-1935 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Connecticut when the same girls were adults. So this book is about World War I, before, during and after the war. The facts that were shared about America during the time period were interesting and educational.

I listened to the audiobook of Ladies of the Lake and the narrator, Stephanie Richardson, really made the story come to life.

Title: Ladies of the Lake (audio)
Author: Cathy Gohlke
Genre: Historical fiction, Christian
Rating: 5 out of 5

When she is forced to leave her beloved Prince Edward Island to attend Lakeside Ladies Academy after the death of her parents, the last thing Adelaide Rose MacNeill expects to find is three kindred spirits. The “Ladies of the Lake,” as the four girls call themselves, quickly bond like sisters, vowing that wherever life takes them, they will always be there for each other. But that is before: Before love and jealousy come between Adelaide and Dorothy, the closest of the friends. Before the dawn of World War I upends their world and casts baseless suspicion onto the German American man they both love. Before a terrible explosion in Halifax Harbor rips the sisterhood irrevocably apart.

Seventeen years later, Rosaline Murray receives an unsuspecting telephone call from Dorothy, now headmistress of Lakeside, inviting her to attend the graduation of a new generation of girls, including Rosaline’s beloved daughter. With that call, Rosaline is drawn into a past she’d determined to put behind her. To memories of a man she once loved . . . of a sisterhood she abandoned . . . and of the day she stopped being Adelaide MacNeill.

I enjoyed this so much! Addie was such a wonderful character, and the friendship between the ladies was wonderful to see. I did not care for Dorothy, though. She was so selfish, and she grated on my nerves. Even the adult Dorothy struggled with this, although she was better than her younger self.

I truly felt the pain Addie experienced, the fear, the hurt. Her emotions were so vividly embodied on the page, and I enjoyed reading her story. I’d never heard of the Halifax explosion—this must have been such a horrific experience. This is a wonderful read, that I highly recommend.

Cathy Gohlke is a bestselling author. Ladies of the Lake is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review.)

Ladies of the Lake by Cathy Gohlke was a most compelling novel. It stirred so many emotions in me as I read it. I listened to the audiobook that was narrated very well by Stephanie Richardson. The story really came to life through her narration. Cathy Gohlke based aspects of her novel, Ladies of the Lake, on events that occurred in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada that I had not been aware of. Ladies of the Lake was told over the course of two different time periods. Part of the story was told during the years of 1910 through 1917 at the Lakeside Ladies Academy in Connecticut and part was told after the Halifax Explosion of 1917 through the 1930’s. Ladies of the Lake was told from the POV of Addie in the first person narrative and from Dorothy’s (Dot’s) POV in the third person narrative. Addie and Dot became best friends from the beginning of their time at Lakeside Ladies Academy along with Ruth and Susannah. The four friends christened themselves “Ladies of the Lake”.

When Adelaide MacNeill was eleven years old she lost both of her parents. Her older half brother insisted that Adelaide or Addie leave the only home she had ever known, all her worldly possessions and her childhood friends to attend a school far from Prince Edward Island. The school was in Connecticut. Addie was being sent to Connecticut to attend the Lakeside Ladies Academy. Addie, Dot, Ruth and Susannah soon forged a strong friendship bond. The girls became Addie’s family. For the next five years, their friendship strengthened and the four friends decided to call themselves “Ladies of the Lake”. The girls got into their share of trouble over the years. They made a pact with each other to always look out for one another and to meet at the gazebo every two years for the rest of their lives. This pact was made before Addie and Dot realized that they both loved the same man. Jealousy became a factor that started to interfere with Addie’s and Dot’s friendship. It affected decisions they had to make and other repercussions that ended up haunting them their entire lives.

With America’s entrance into the Great War, Americans became suspicious of German/American citizens that were living in the United States. There were acts of violence perpetrated against them. The man that Addie and Dot both loved was from a German/American family. His family had been targeted several times because of their ethnicity. One night a very heinous act of violence was performed against the family. It caused a severe life threatening injury to one of the members of his family. Addie was unaware of the incident. She had left the school to go to Halifax to assist her sister-in-law and half brother in the birth of their second child.

On December 6, 1917, a few days after Addie’s sister-in-law gave birth to a baby girl, there was a terrible explosion. Two boats had collided into one another in the harbor. It became known as the Halifax Explosion. It was the biggest man made explosion. So many people were killed in that explosion including Addie’s half brother, her sister-in-law and her young nephew. Addie had been outside interviewing a wet nurse. She had taken her baby niece outside with her. Both Addie and her niece suffered from severe burns, blindness and hearing loss but they survived. Others suffered similar injuries, skin defects from the burns and some were crippled. Addie had a pressing desire to disappear after the Halifax Explosion tragedy. When the love of her life failed to materialize in Halifax to ask her half brother for her hand in marriage, Addie was forced to accept the fact that he did not love her or want her as his wife. Addie reinvented herself and became Rosaline Murphy. She led a secluded life and became a well appointed author. Addie honored her sister-in-law’s wishes and raised her niece as her own daughter after Addie legally adopted her. Now, seventeen years later, Addie needed to summon up the courage to attend her daughter’s graduation ceremony at Lakeside Ladies Academy. Could Addie overcome her fears of returning to the school she attended all those years ago? Could Addie put away her fears for her daughter? Could Addie loose the ghosts from her past?

I loved Addie’s character. Over the course of the book, Addie grew and evolved into a strong, determined woman, a loving mother who placed the love she felt for her daughter above all else, a renowand successful writer and a good friend. The Halifax Explosion of 1917 was a tragic occurrence that I had never heard of. I was glad to learn about it but saddened to learn how many lives were lost or altered as a result. Ladies of the Lake explored the themes of friendship, mother/daughter relationships, prejudice, bullying, love, loyalty, betrayal, jealousy, resilience, second chances and acceptance of one’s past and the ability to move on and forgive. This was an impressive historical fiction piece of work that was impeccably researched. I enjoyed all the references to Anne of Green Gables and to the author Lucy Maud Montgomery throughout the book. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of Ladies of the Lake by Cathy Gohlke and highly recommend it.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media LLC for allowing me to listen to the audiobook of Ladies of the Lake by Cathy Gohlke through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Adelaide McNeil's parents were taking the ferry home to Prince Edward Island but were killed when it sank in a storm. All Addie ever found was one of her mother's shoes.. Her much older brother deposited her at Lakeside Ladies Academy in the states. Only twelve years old, she was heartbroken but soon found three other girls with whom she bonded. Dorothy, Ruth, and Susannah with very different backgrounds became fast friends. After graduation from the school, Dorothy and Addie stay on as teachers. Both women have strong feelings for one of the Meyer boys, neighbors of the academy. Stephen only has eyes for Addie, much to Dot's dismay.

In the middle of WWI, Addie returns to Halifax to help out when her sister in law is expecting. Cathy Gohlke has shone light on one of the little known events in history, the Halifax explosion of 6 December, 1917. A French cargo ship, the SS Mont-Blanc, laden with explosives, collided with the empty Norwegian relief ship SS IMO in the harbor in Halifax, Canada. The result was nearly 2,000 deaths and widespread damage. In the novel, the McNeil family is nearly wiped out. The only survivors are the new infant and Addie. Addie claims the newborn, who was also burned in the explosion, as her own to ensure that she is not adopted by strangers. She changes her name and begins life anew.

Years later, when her daughter Bernadette is due to graduate from that very same school, Addie does not want to attend. Everyone who knew her then believes her to be dead. And she bears scars from the explosion. Not to mention that her friend Dorothy is now Mrs. Meyer. But Bernadette is persistent. And Ruth discovers Addie/Rose is alive and also encourages her to attend. Addie/.Rose finally agrees and finds renewed friendship as well as the surprise addition of others to her life.

Narrator Stephanie Richardson handles the time jumps in the book adroitly.

I listened to the audiobook courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. Recommended for those who enjoy historical fiction, a bit of mystery, and friendship stories.

A heartfelt and endearing story of friendships, heartache, grace and forgiveness. Well written and the imperfection in the friendships revealed the realism in them. The 4 friends all had flaws and so often Addy bore the brunt of a lot of wounds you just wanted to save her from. So often in girl friendships it’s not far from the truth so it was easy to identify with and understand. And loved the relationship Rosaline and Porschea had as well. How there was both compassion and challenge.

It wasn’t a story where everything was perfect and easy. It spoke of pain and hurt, betrayal and wounded decisions. But ultimately gave way to honesty, reconciliation and acceptance. There were no easy answers given, and rightly so. Great character development all the way around.

Loved the plot twist at the end also. I saw little bits that I was trying to reconcile in the story but did not fully see that coming.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

Happy Pub Day to Cathy Gohlke and Ladies of the Lake! Thank you to @dreamscape_media and @cathy_gohlke for allowing me to read an ALC (Advanced Listener 🎧 Copy) for an honest review!

Four inseparable friends sharing the bond of sisterhood navigated their life together in boarding school prior to World War I but are challenged with living their lives apart once the war starts. A story rich with loyalty, friendship, betrayal, heartbreak, trust, triumph, tribulation, forgiveness, and tradition…all sprinkled with a dash of historical fiction.

Tropes:
🌀Found Family
🌀Happily Adopted
🌀Soul Mates
🌀Marriage of Convenience
🌀Second Chance Friendships
🌀Miscommunication & Secrets

What I loved:
💕 Strong character development.
💕 Bonds of sisterhood. Gave me Little Women and Ya-Ya Sisterhood Vibes.
💕 The setting of the school and lake, as well as the friendships and traditions reminded me of my undergraduate experience at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. Meredith is an all woman’s college that originated as a teacher’s college.
💕 The admission of fault, apologies, consideration for second chance friendships, and forgiveness. Forgiveness is always so powerful.
💕 That I learned about parts of history that I wasn’t already familiar with.

What I learned:
📕 I’ve read many historical fiction books that are set during the German and French Occupations. However, I was unaware of the Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917. The collision of two cargo ships, the SS Mont-Blanc from France and the Norwegian vessel SS Imo resulted in an explosion, tidal wave, and fires that destructed nearby neighborhoods. Reports state that roughly 2,000 were killed and thousands more injured.
📕 Lakeside Ladies Academy was modeled after Miss Porter’s elite private prep school located in Farmington, CT. Notable alumna consist of Jackie O. Kennedy, Gloria Vanderbilt, Princess Anastasia, and Ruth McCormick.

Adelaide is orphaned at a young age and is forced to leave Prince Edward Island to join Lakeside Ladies Academy. While there, she makes three good friends who promise to always be there for each other. But that was before two of them fall in love with the same man, and love and jealousy cause them to make decisions they’ll regret the rest of their lives. Seventeen years later, Rosaline Murray refuses to attend her daughter’s graduation from Lakeside Ladies Academy for reasons she won’t explain. But when she receives a call from the headmistress, she finds herself reminiscing over her past she’d attempted to leave behind her forever and of friendships lost but not forgotten.

This story is told in a dual timeline, following the girls when they first began school together in the 1910s and when they’re adults in 1935. The earliest timeline occurs just before World War I, which plays a small role near the end of that timeline. The setting never came alive in either timeline, which made it difficult to connect to that aspect of the story. I find this particularly frustrating in historical fiction.

From the beginning of this work, there were obvious parallels to Lucy Maude Montgomery’s <i>Anne of Green Gables</i> stories/characters (I’m not going to list all the ways but there were many). Anne of Green Gables is eventually mentioned as being one of Addy’s favorites because of the parallels in her life. I honestly didn’t like this approach. With this many parallels in the plot and characters, it made me expect the quality and complexity of characters in this book to be similar to the original work, but it wasn’t. Instead, it highlighted the areas that I felt this book was lacking (namely strong characters and meaningful relationships). Some might enjoy this aspect, but it wasn’t for me.

The characters just weren’t that interesting. This made their competition, struggles, and betrayals lose their impact and feel too melodramatic. Unfortunately, their relationships with each other also suffered. The friendships never felt that deep, and I never felt an emotional connection between the characters. Their dialogue was stilted, which made it difficult to find the conversations engaging. There was also repetitive introspection throughout the book that wasn’t that interesting the second time around, let alone the fourth.

Unfortunately, I found this entire experience to be tedious. I think I’m not the right audience for this read, which ended up being less historical fiction than I wanted and more women’s/Christian fiction (sidenote: I didn’t realize this was Christian fiction when I requested it, which is not a genre I read). If you enjoy Christian or women’s fiction, then you might like this one. I’m definitely of the minority opinion here, so go check out some of the other reviews if this one sounds interesting to you. My thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to read this work, which will be published July 11th, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I believe anyone who likes historical fiction with roots in longstanding friendships will enjoy this book. For me it personally wasn't a favorite. I enjoyed the plot, but it felt extremely drawn out - it could have easily have been cut down by 50-100 pages and would have still gotten the same points across. The relationships surrounding the events of now and then kept me going. I did like seeing the friendships and how the effects of the outside world at that time really took a toll. There were some surprises. Overall a decent read - just not one for me.

This was such a great book about friendship, grief and resilience. It’s a dual timeline story that switches back and forth between the Halifax Harbor explosion in Canada during WWI and 17 years later. Adelaide MacNeill’s life is completely altered the day of the explosion and she has to make a choice. Adelaide lives a life of secrets and finally has to decide if the truth is worth telling. I love how this story panned out and the audio was very well done!

I loved Ladies of the Lake! What a great dual timeline historical fiction novel that follows a group of girls through boarding school into adulthood and the choices they make.

A historical novel about the wonder and complexities of friendship, love, and belonging. Band of Sisters.

When she is forced to leave her beloved Prince Edward Island to attend Lakeside Ladies Academy after the death of her parents, the last thing Adelaide Rose MacNeill expects to find is three kindred spirits. The "Ladies of the Lake," as the four girls call themselves, quickly bond like sisters, vowing that wherever life takes them, they will always be there for each other. But that is before. Before love and jealousy come between Adelaide and Dorothy, the closest of the friends. Before the dawn of World War I upends their world and casts baseless suspicion onto the German American man they both love. Before a terrible explosion in Halifax Harbor rips the sisterhood irrevocably apart.

Seventeen years later, Rosaline Murray receives an unsuspecting telephone call from Dorothy, now headmistress of Lakeside, inviting her to attend the graduation of a new generation of girls, including Rosaline's beloved daughter. With that call, Rosaline is drawn into a past she'd determined to put behind her. To memories of a man she once loved . . . of a sisterhood she abandoned . . . and of the day she stopped being Adelaide MacNeill.

Thank you Net Galley the publisher for this ARC.

Ladies of the Lake
Cathy Gohlke
“Ladies of the Lake” should be at the top of your reading list.
Adelaide Rose MacNeill was orphaned at eleven years old. Her half-brother arranged for her to attend the Lakeside Ladies Academy; she didn’t want to leave her home in Prince Edward Island, but she had no choice. Upon her arrival she met Dorothy who declared they would be best friends and they were. Four young girls: Dorothy, Adelaide, Ruth and Susannah grew a bond that could never truly be broken. They called themselves Ladies of the Lake and took an oath to always be faithful in their friendship. Their friendship was tested by World War I, jealousy, injuries, and misunderstandings.
In 1910 after graduating from the Lakeside Ladies Academy Adelaide returned to Halifax to assist her sister-in-law with the birth of another child. There was an explosion in the Halifax Harbor that left many dead and injured.
Seventeen years later, Dorothy is the headmistress of the Academy; she rarely contacted her girls’ family, but Bernadette was a special girl. Dorothy called her mother, Rosaline Murray, and invited her to attend graduation. That one phone call changed the life of Rosaline.
It is an honor and a pleasure to review “Ladies of the Lake.” The young women in this book formed a bond that captured my heart. Perhaps there should be more schools similar to Lakeside Ladies Academy; the school encourage its student to do their best, to be the best they could be. Life at the school wasn’t perfect by any means; some of the students were bullies. The school encouraged the students to form bonds of friendship, to accept each other, to have a spiritual relationship with the Lord. This book teaches the principles of affection, compassion, interaction, approval, and hope.
Author Cathy Gohike uses inspiring scripture in this tale; she places the plot in the midst of historical events. She has created characters that marched off the pages and into my heart.

I love every book I have read by Cathy Gohlke. She manages to pull me in and make me invested in the characters and the story line. This was a historical fiction book, which is one of my favorite genres, and included a dual timeline. That’s also a big plus for me! This one was a unique view in that it dealt with the Halifax Harbor explosion at Prince Edward Island. What a beautiful story of friendships, faith, love, loss, and forgiveness. You will come to know each of the “ladies of the lake” well and have definite opinions of them. The emotions will flow off of the page and wrap themselves around your heart. It is at times heartwrenching and at others full of hope. Hang on until the end. What a wonderful twist that will have you gasping out loud!

I strongly encourage you to put this on your must-buy-and-read ASAP list. It is one I will not soon forget. It has left a deep impression on my heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tyndale House Publishers for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

For more reviews, please visit my blog at: https://www.msladybugsbookreviews.com/. Over 1000 reviews posted!

I did not enjoy this book, in part because of the narrator who sounded too whiney, and in part because the writing was just not sophisticated.