Disclaimer: You are viewing a summary of the content from the book "Tom Lake" The summary's contents are not poised to replace the original book. It is meant as a complement to enhance the reader's understanding. Once again, the intention of this complimentary guide is to encourage the reader to get the original book to further their comprehension and understanding. About the Book: Tom Lake takes place in 2020, the first year of the COVID epidemic. Lara Nelson, her husband, Joe, and their kids, Emily, Maisie, and Nell, isolate themselves on their family farm in northern Michigan, where they strive to bring in the first harvest from their cherry orchard. Because of the pandemic, more than half of their seasonal workers did not return that year, and the family worked long hours hand-picking the "sweets," cherries that are too fragile to freeze for shipping and must be sold fresh. While Lara and her girls gather cherries from nearby trees, she tells them about the time she dated Peter Duke, a famous movie actor who recently died. Lara briefly worked as an actor, beginning in high school when she was cast as Emily in a community theater production of Our Town. She reprised the part in college and was discovered by a film director, who invited her to Los Angeles to appear in his current film. The film was shot, but its release was postponed, and after living and working in Los Angeles for a few years, Lara returned to New Hampshire. When Lara auditioned for Emily in a Broadway production of Our Town, she was not cast, but was offered the role at Tom Lake, a summer stock theater in Michigan. As soon as she arrived, Lara met and fell in love with Peter Duke, a young and unknown actor at the time. Their summer affair was whirlwind and intense, but it ended when Lara was injured and had to leave her role as Emily. Her understudy, Pallace, who was dating Duke's brother Sebastian, took over her position, and she and Duke started sleeping together as well. Duke withdrew from Lara's life following her injury. However, before their relationship ended, Lara, Duke, Sebastian, and Pallace paid a visit to their director Joe Nelson's family farm. Here’s a preview of what you will get inside this summary ; A Chapter by Chapter summary to refresh your mind of key events. Character analysis Themes Discussion Questions Get this in-depth summary to learn more.
