Small moments: ‘Tom Lake’ by Ann Patchett

American author Ann Patchett’s 2023 novel Tom Lake is a love letter to happy families, to the heady days of youth, and to the small moments that make up a life.

I’ve seen it described as Patchett’s ‘pandemic novel’ and I guess there is truth in that, insofar as the family at the centre of the narrative are brought together in summer on their cherry farm, and because of the pandemic restrictions, they must stay there.

While this might sound like the kind of scenario that sets us up to expect conflict, it does the opposite. This is a happy family, though not without some tensions. They work together to harvest the orchard’s cherry crop and while they work, and in breaks and at meal times, the protagonist Lara is telling her three young adult daughters the story of the summer in which she played a lead role in an iconic American play and fell madly in love with a young actor, who – unlike her – would go on to be very famous.

The narrative moves between the telling of Lara’s story and back in time to 1988 when the events of that summer played out.

Lara’s daughters think they already know the story of how their parents met and fell in love, but Lara’s story holds plenty of surprises for them and they hang on every word.

There is so much to love about this novel. It’s not about the big events that make history or headlines, but the summer of 1988 was momentous in many ways for the people concerned. Lara makes mistakes of youth and moves on from them. Others don’t. Her daughters are wide eyed and engrossed by the glimpses of another Lara – not ‘Mom’, as they know her, but as a young woman finding her way in the world, a full person in her own right, who owns her past and her errors and shares (most of) these openly with her family.

The characters are believable and engaging; Emily, Maisie and Nell (the daughters) are gorgeous vibrant young women with their own views about all sorts of things; Joe (the husband) is kindly and recognisably a good man. Duke (the famous actor) is flawed but charismatic; it’s easy to see why the young Lara was swept up in his orbit.

One of the loveliest components is the motif of the play at the centre of Lara’s youthful summer: Our Town by Thornton Wilder. I had heard of it but knew nothing about it really, and as it’s such a big part of the novel I went looking online and found a production on YouTube starring Paul Newman as the ‘Stage Manager’ (a sort of narrator.) What a treat!

The play is set in a small New Hampshire town at the turn of the twentieth century. It’s folksy charm is beguiling as we meet some of the town’s citizens as they go about their everyday lives. Humdrum, in a way. That’s Act One. In Act Two, two young neighbours, Emily and George, fall in love and decide to marry. Emily is the character played so memorably by Lara in that 1988 production of the play. So far, so good. The dialogue and action is full of those small moments that make up our lives. Nothing too dramatic or earth-shattering. There’s a lovely wedding scene, albeit with some asides to the audience that suggest that there is more going on in people’s hearts and minds than we might guess.

It’s in Act Three that the full meaning of the play becomes apparent. Actually it kind of whacks you on the head. In a good way. I began to see why it’s such an iconic play but also, why it meant so much to Emily and her fellow cast members in that summer of long ago; and why it means so much to her in adulthood with her loving family around her.

It is the small moments that make up a life, and it is often those that we miss in the living of it.

I was so glad to be able to watch a version of the play online as there are many references to it in the novel. You can most certainly read Tom Lake without knowledge of the play but understanding what Our Town is all about is truly an added bonus. I will quote here the Author’s Note at the end of Tom Lake because she says it so beautifully:

I thank Thornton Wilder, who wrote the play that has been an enduring comfort, guide, and inspiration throughout my life. If this novel has a goal, it is to turn the reader back to Our Town, and to all of Wilder’s work. Therein lies the joy.

Tom Lake Author’s Note

Tom Lake was published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2023.