During the 2020 pandemic, Lara gathers with her three adult daughters on their family cherry orchard in Michigan. As they pick fruit, the daughters press Lara to recount her youthful romance with Peter Duke, a world-famous actor with whom she once shared a stage and a bed at a summer theater company called Tom Lake. The narrative shifts between the present-day harvest and Lara’s memories of her brief acting career, her relationship with the charismatic Duke, and the specific choices that led her away from Hollywood and toward a quiet life as a mother and wife.
Readers interested in the complexities of maternal identity and the long-term mechanics of marriage will find value in this story. It describes how past versions of ourselves coexist with our current roles and how adult children eventually view their parents as independent individuals with private histories. The book offers a meditation on contentment, demonstrating how a person moves from the intensity of youthful ambition to the steady satisfaction found in domestic routines and intentional stillness.
Insights from Tom Lake
“I didn't have the talent. I just had the look.”
Lara realized she wasn't the best actress in the room. Walking away from fame gave her a different kind of peace.
“I married the right man.”
Joe is the steady center of their world. He didn't need to be a movie star to be the hero of the story.
“The stories we tell our children are not the stories we tell ourselves.”
The past stays alive because we choose what to tell. Lara keeps some secrets just for herself.
Picking cherries is repetitive and exhausting. It creates a rhythm that makes the heavy conversations feel safer.
- Published
- 2023
- Publisher
- Harper
- ISBN
- 9780063327528
- Language
- EN
