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Content snapshot
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Violence
None
No violence
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Some
A past romantic relationship described with adult candor; some sexual content in literary fiction register
Substance Use
Barely any
Social drinking; summer stock theater milieu
Emotional Intensity
Some
Moderate emotional depth: the gap between the person you were and the person you became, and what you chose not to tell your children, are the novel's central preoccupations
What this book is about
During the COVID pandemic, Lara is quarantined on the Michigan cherry farm where she grew up, now with her husband and three grown daughters. When they ask her to tell them about Peter Duke — now a famous actor — and the summer she acted opposite him at a summer stock theater called Tom Lake, she tells them everything. Ann Patchett's luminous novel is about memory, performance, the stories we tell about our younger selves, and the strange consolation of being known by the people who love you most.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
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