Thursday, April 30, 2015

Gone-Away Lake (1957)

Gone Away Lake. Elizabeth Enright. 1957. 256 pages. [Source: Library]

I enjoyed reading Elizabeth Enright's Gone-Away Lake. I am so glad to be participating in the Newbery Through the Decades reading project. I've been motivated to read many books that I probably never would have read.

Gone-Away Lake tells the summertime adventure of two cousins: Portia and Julian. Early on in the summer these two stumble upon a muddy, dried-up lake. They discover a "ghost town" of sorts--the remnants of a lake resort community. To their great surprise, they discover that it is not as abandoned as it first appeared. Two people still live there. A brother and sister. (They live in separate houses.) Her name is Mrs. Cheever. His name is Mr. Payton. The four become friends--good friends. There are thousands of stories to be shared. Much to explore. Much to do.

I enjoyed this one very much. It's not an action-packed story (though it does have an intense scene or two--at least relatively speaking). It's definitely driven by the interesting characters. (Something I can definitely appreciate!)

Have you read Gone-Away Lake? What did you think? How do you think it compares to Thimble Summer?

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I loved Gone Away Lake as a kid and read it over and over. The idea of exploring on their own, finding a slightly hidden place was really appealing. I lived in an area where we could go out and explore in the woods and fields all day, and we had an abandoned old house too, but no one ever went in there like kids do in books and movies.
I think there's a sequel, too, maybe.

Unknown said...

Yup! Return to Gone Away!

Daph said...

I have never read this book or even heard of it but now I want to look it up Great review!