The Lake and the Library

by S.M. Beiko

Wishing for something more than her adventureless life, 16-year-old Ash eagerly awaits the move she and her mother are taking from their dull, drab life in the prairie town of Treade. But as Ash counts the days, she finds her way into a mysterious, condemned building on the outskirts of town--one that has haunted her entire childhood with secrets and questions. What she finds inside is an untouched library, inhabited by an enchanting mute named Li. Brightened by Li's charm and his indulgence in her dreams, Ash becomes locked in a world of dusty books and dying memories, with Li becoming the attachment to Treade she never wanted. This haunting and romantic debut novel explores the blurry boundary between the real and imagined with a narrative that illustrates the power and potency of literacy.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Canada, Romance, Relationships

246 pages, ebook

First published May 1, 2013

About the author

SAMANTHA MARY BEIKO is a writer of whatever tromps into her head at the time--but mostly it is YA fantasy and its derivatives.

She currently works full-time the Canadian publishing industry as a freelance editor, graphic designer, and consultant, and is the Co-Publisher of ChiZine Publications. She devotes her days to helping traditional corporate publishers, as well as independent writers and creators, realize their projects to print or digital completion, helping them to market with editorial and graphic design. She was also the co-editor on Imaginarium 2013 and Imaginarium 5, and will be co-editing Gothic Tales of Haunted Love with Hope Nicholson for Bedside Press in 2017.

Her first novel, a young adult fantasy set in rural Manitoba called The Lake and the Library, was nominated for the Manitoba Book Award for Best First Book, as well as the 2014 Aurora Award. Her next series, The Realms of Ancient, has been signed for a three book deal with ECW Press. The first book, Scion of the Fox, will be out in October 2017. The sequels to follow are Children of the Bloodlands and The Brilliant Dark in the subsequent years (2018 and 2019).

Samantha currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the co-chair of the Winnipeg ChiSeries, a reading series that highlights speculative writers in various panels, readings, and workshops. She is also the co-organizer, along with Hope Nicholson (Bedside Press) and Alicia May (Dandizette Cosmetics) of Winnipeg Geek Girls Social Club.

She apologizes in advance if she ignores you when a dog walks by.

Reviews

[PageTurner · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book is poetic and dreamy. Although at first I wasn’t willing to get lost in the poetry with which the protagonist saw her world. Sure this was far better than teenage girly angst about having an adventure-less life. But I was still sceptical –after all this is what it was, just voiced in superior words.

Then the protagonist, Ash, discovers a magical library complete with a mischievously endearing mute young man. Okay, you got me, I thought –that may just be the fantasy of a good fraction of bookworm girls!
Then the story becomes an intertwining of a story from the past and Ash’s adventures in the library which reveals itself (and its inhabitant) to be more magical each day. As Ash becomes entranced in this world and starts to shut out her world outside the library the story reaches a suspenseful intensity.

I really appreciated the YA romance that has the protagonist drawn to her love interest for who he is and what sort of a time they share together. Rather than because he’s-the-most-gorgeous-guy-I’ve-ever-seen or an unexplainable we-have-an-intense-connection-while-the-whole-world-shuts-out. Actually the second of those things does kind of play out but in a much more sophisticated way and is even scrutinised after a point.
The other thing that was fantastic was in fact the poetic language. As the story progresses and the images flow in your mind you start to see how that process itself is like the water imagery found throughout the book.

It’s a well-written, different sort of a story about the familiar experience of getting lost in stories.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was slightly afraid, when Ash falls under Li’s spell and begins to ignore everyone and everything aside from her own obsession, that L&L might be heading toward Twilight territory, wherein the heroine sees her new love as the be-all and the end-all of everything. Happily, Bieko, beyond being an immeasurably superior writer than Stephanie Meyer, understands such fixations of youth as being potentially dangerous.

Where Meyer made her lead a passive object waiting to be rescued, Bieko explores through fantastical backdrops how such youthful passions can lead to peril, both emotional and physical. There are incisive parallels to addiction in Bieko’s narrative, and while reading may not appear as deadly a dependence as that of crystal meth, the powerful sway Li and the library hold over Ash’s personality holds the potential to be just as damaging to her psyche.

Read the full review here.

[Chadwick Ginther · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I'm not normally a YA reader, but let's say I could definitely relate to a bookish teen growing up in rural Manitoba. Full of magic and wonder, I can't wait to read more from this author!

[La Coccinelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is kind of a weird review for me. I'm not quite sure how to rate a book that's so uneven. Some parts of it were great. Other parts... not so much.

In the acknowledgements, the author says that she was sixteen when she wrote the book. On the one hand, I can scarcely believe it because the plot was so good. On the other hand, I can totally believe it because of the writing. And it wasn't that the writing was uniformly bad; that's what made it so frustrating. There were passages that were beautiful and evocative and the author did do a lot of things right:

Finally, something existed just for me in this sterile town where everything was everyone's until it smothered.

But there were also those passages that bordered on purple prose, or that were just plain weird and unnecessary:

Her index and thumb to her temple, stretching her eye upwards, she nodded.

On more than one occasion, I came across words that made no sense in context; it was as if the author liked the sound of the word, though didn't quite know what it meant... but used it anyway, meaning be damned:

Something went off, and everything slowed to a mercurial pace.

This book also featured many, many instances of one of my biggest pet peeves: the "said bookism". And these "said bookisms" didn't even make sense. Throughout the novel, characters smiled, grimaced, shrugged, evaded, and stiffened their words (no, I know that makes no sense, and that's why it bothers me):

"Well, okay," he shuffled his feet again.

Aargh. Sometimes, I think authors are allergic to the word "said". And what was weirdest of all was that, half the time, this author did use "said"... which only made the other incorrect dialogue tags all the more jarring and annoying. One other thing I noticed was that there were a few odd shifts in tense. Most of the novel is written in first person, past tense (with some sections in third person, present tense). There were a few instances where the past tense was replaced with present tense, but only momentarily... which leads me to believe it was an editing issue more than anything else. In any case, it was still a bit irksome.

The characters, on the whole, were pretty good, though Ash is arguably a bit bland (probably so the reader can live vicariously through her). Li (pronounced "Lie", not "Lee"... he's not Chinese, as I first assumed) was everything the synopsis promised, and then some. We even got two parent characters who actually played a role in the story (fancy that, in YA fiction)! I did find Tabitha and Paul, Ash's friends, a bit on the weak side at times, but they were necessary.

Okay, then there's the plot. I really, really liked this story. The synopsis makes it sound like a contemporary romance novel, but it's not. It's fantasy. Li's "indulgence in [Ash's] dreams" is a big hint at where this story goes, but it's more than that, too (and I don't want to say much more and give anything away, because that would spoil the fun of readers discovering things for themselves). I thought the secondary plot thread -- the bits told in third person -- was a nice addition, and it tied in seamlessly with Ash's story. And the ending... Well, I'll just say that books rarely make me emotional enough to shed any tears, but this one came close. I haven't been that invested in fictional characters and their stories in a while.

So, on the whole, this was a good book with a great plot that had a few moments of great writing, but also quite a bit of bad writing. With another round of editing, this probably could have been a five-star book. It's still pretty good, though, and if you don't mind some of the technical issues I mentioned above, you might like this one even more than I did. I'd recommend it to fans of romantic fantasy fiction.

http://theladybugreads.blogspot.ca/20...

[Black Bones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing story. Fantastic writing.
The story was like a mixture of "Bridge to Terabithia" with "Casper" plus "Howl's Moving Castle" with a speck of "The Changeling Sea".

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first saw the cover I was immediately intrigued and once I started reading I couldn't stop. I felt like I had fallen down a rabbit hole and into the story, in the good way where you don't want to leave because you can relate to the characters and understand some of the conflicts that they go through, at least that's how it was for me maybe it will for you as well :). Can't wait for the book launch at McNally Robinson, May 8th in Winnipeg, Mb :)

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

i thought this was a very imaginative premise but i would have liked more development of the story about Li & his mother, the building of the library etc. very fanciful though & the description of the library is a dream for avid readers. i didn't quite relate to the spell the MC went under. it felt a bit contrived & easy to me.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I smacked the flashlight head, wishing I’d bothered to change the batteries before I left home today. It flickered, but wouldn’t light. I struggled to my feet, knees quaking from the cold, until I stumbled out into the open, wheeling forwards and expecting to land flat on my face again. Instead, my hands met something square, ribbed, and wooden. My fingertips danced and touched and tried to read what I felt in the darkness, but sudden lightning served my need, instead. There they were: shelves, bindings… books.

I fumbled with the flashlight, smacking it so hard the pain sang in my hand. I was desperate. Like a spooked horse, it sprang into action, and my small halo of yellow light revealed the unbelievable truth. In front of me were books, mountains of them, of every size and shape I could imagine, caked in dust. The shelves went on for dark miles, and emboldened by how all of this had to be a dream, I wandered into the centre of the massive room I’d wriggled in to, finding myself face to face with the huge rose window—the window that, in a dream flash, had been a giant, winking eye. Rain pelted it from the other side, where the real world ended and this one began. I stepped reverently into the dim, rose-shaped light the window cast onto the floor, and I realized what this place was. After sixteen years of dreaming, after a decade of enduring Treade and its deprivation of my soul… I had fallen down the rabbit hole and landed in a library.

***

It’s a book lover’s dream come true: a library where every book opened, every spine cracked flat is a doorway to another world, another realm so very different from our own. Great works of fiction, the ones we remember most, that live with us, strike a balance between escapism on one hand and holding a mirror up to our world and our selves with the other. When the final page is turned and reality seeps back into the equation, the illusion is broken. To be able to literally step inside any book and have it be a world, full and tangible—to be able to fashion actual wings from the pages of stacks of books and travel to new heights—is a fantasy most die-hard readers likely have more often than they’d care to admit.

S.M. Beiko’s young adult novel The Lake and the Library teases this idea, but never fully embraces it. The novel centres on a young woman named Ashleigh—Ash. Ash and her mother have been stuck for a decade in a dull armpit of a town: Treade, Manitoba. Not so tiny you’d miss it on a map, but certainly smaller and less lively than Winnipeg, Treade feels a little like a fly-over prairie town where the grain elevators are as much an attraction as they are a sign of the town’s simple (and often boring) way of life.

Ash’s mother, a chain-smoker with unchecked medical problems and a penchant for wanderlust (or getting into trouble and having to up and move with little to no preamble), has informed her daughter that they will be moving by the summer’s end. This of course causes heartache for Ash and her two best friends of ten years, Paul and Tabitha. At first, Paul and Tabitha pull back, preemptively shielding themselves from the hurt that will come in only a couple of month’s time.

Ash is torn, because she herself is a dreamer. She reads and paints and fantasizes of a life away from Treade’s confined way of life, but at the same time she fears losing her two closest friends—and through losing them, letting go of her childhood. There’s a strong growing-up-is-hard-to-do vibe running through all their interactions—something any kid who school-hopped their way through life will likely find kinship with.

Determined to have one last adventure before leaving Treade, possibly forever, Ash decides to break into a decrepit, abandoned building the three of them discovered in the middle of Wilson’s Woods. This of course is the library from the book’s title. Once inside the library, and once her awe has run its course, Ash meets the mysterious and enigmatic Li—a young man, mute but more than capable communicating via gestures and sign language, who may or may not live in the library.

Ash and Li strike up a friendship that quickly crosses the line into love—or something supernatural meant to feel like love. As Li opens an infinite number of doors for Ash, taking her into the worlds of the books surrounding them in the library, Ash becomes overwhelmingly infatuated with Li. At first she’s fearful of their connection—fearful that because of how she feels about him she might want to stay in Treade, a town she knows, deep down, she doesn’t belong. But Li’s magic, his love for her, is strong, and Ash rapidly loses her grip on reality. She pushes her friends away first, diminishing their already limited time left together, then she starts ignoring and lashing out at her mother. She resents the lot of them for the little time they pull her away from Li, away from her perfect romance. Her actions are akin to a drug addict’s, and the influence of the fantasy on her mind and her way of thinking, her desperate desire to not grow up and admit to the changes happening in her life, causes her to hurt those who care for her most of all in both emotional and physical ways.

Interspersed with many of the chapters is a supplemental story—small chapters showing a son and his mother as he prepares, against his wishes, to take control of his deceased father’s business.

The Lake and the Library is a bit of a dichotomous experience: its core concept is engaging and the novel is difficult to put down, but it is also infuriating and at times painfully purple. Beiko’s character work is strong—Ash, Paul, and Tabitha are believable for their age, and their friendship feels genuine—and the mystery behind the library is fun. However the novel suffers from an overabundance of adjectives, which grinds the pacing of some of the more climactic scenes to a melodramatic limp (the most obvious example being during the novel’s first scene of conflict, in Chapter 4, where the action is knocked from active to passive because of the descriptive language employed). Throughout the novel, there’s simply too much literary hand holding and not enough confidence in the actions and events themselves to impart the tone of a given scene. This is as much a problem with the editing as it is the writing, but it is still something that I wish had been addressed in the production of this title, as it did, on several occasions, pull me out of what was otherwise an enjoyable read.

There are a few other cracks in the plaster—a variety of references from decades past that make it difficult to pin down the when of the book (something I clued into only once text messages made an appearance in the storyline) and the incredibly quick recovery of Ash’s mother in the novel’s later chapters, not to mention the lack of hurt exhibited by Paul and Tabitha when they finally confront Ash near the end—but none so damning that they further harmed the overall experience.

The Lake and the Library is a taste of Wonderland and Neverland without ever diving so deep into any one fictional world that we lose touch with reality. Beiko’s story has a soft undertone of tragedy, revealing two loves from two different worlds, both tasked with accepting the impending end of their childhood innocence and wanting to do whatever possible to put off the inevitable. The allure of the fantastic is strong, but the story is unfortunately hampered by overly colourful writing that could have used a bit more reigning in during the stylistic phase of the editing process.

[Barbara McEwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book to read for a book bingo square "A Book that your 16 year old self would have enjoyed". I was pretty spot on for that. Very dramatic! A girl wanting out of her boring small town, a magical library, a cute boy, some spookiness... I mean come on. I enjoyed it as an adult but I would have been pretty blown away as a teen. Good stuff.

[Chapter by Chapter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lake and the Library by S.M. Beiko What a fun read! I wanted to read The Lake and the Library by author S.M. Beiko the moment I read the synopsis on the back of the novel. It sounded absolutely magical and that it would be a dream-like read that would be Alice in Wonderland meets the modern day world. Which is exactly what The Lake and the Libraryis. It’s a beautifully written read that readers will get caught up in and enjoy until the very last page. Just great.
The Lake and the Library tells the story of main character Ash who wants a life that’s full of adventure. When she learns that she will have to move from her hometown of Treade at the end of the summer and face a heartfelt goodbye with her best friends and everything she cherishes in Treade. So when Ash and her best friends go to an eerie building outside of Treade, a building that has haunted her with the mystery of what must be inside, Ash finds a way in. But what she finds within the building isn’t what she expected.
She discovers a library within the building. A library beyond her wildest dreams, a library filled with every book she could ever want to read. But within the library is a mute boy named Li. At first Li and Ash don’t get along but eventually Ash is drawn to Li and how he loves to indulge her imagination when they are inside the library. Soon Ash and Li both disappear into their wildest fantasies together but with the end of summer fast approaching their time together must end. Hiding deep within the library is a story untold, one that explains Li’s life and the dark secrets within the Library and its existence.
The one thing I first noticed about The Lake and the Library was the writing style. Beiko’s writing style is beautiful. There is the perfect amount of descriptions, emotion and depth in the novel that I was blissed out by the beautiful writing. Everything flowed perfectly and it really made the story come to life. I could see the library in my imagination, I could feel myself falling for Li the same way Ash did and I could feel every emotion that Ash did. I loved it.
The Lake and the Library is such a unique read. I’ve been a big fan of reads that immerse readers into worlds like the ones found in Alice in Wonderland. Those fantasy worlds that are bizarre have always been exciting to enter andThe Lake and the Library has a bit of everything. The library and how it reacts to the stories and the experiences that Li and Ash go through is magical. The library was dark and twisted and beautiful and wonderful at the exact same time. Throw in the plot twist involving Li and you’ve got something awesome-sauce.
Li and Ash were a couple that I was surprised I would end up liking as much as I did. From the start of the novel I wasn’t sure if the two would end up together because Li is a mute and there’s a communication barrier there. What surprised me was the way that Beiko built up Li and Ash’s relationship. I have to admit that I didn’t expect myself to feel for Li the same way that Ash did and that when a certain plot twist is added into the story that he would do what he did.
I would recommend The Lake and the Library to readers who are looking for an imaginative read, readers who are looking for a YA read that focuses on how even the best of dreams can grow dark and for readers who are fans of YA fantasy .

[Diane Ferbrache · Rating 4 out of 5]

16 year old Ash and her mother are languishing in the small town of Treade. They have been waiting for the time to escape to the city (Winnipeg). But as the reality of leaving her friends and old life behind begins to hit Ash, she experiences something that just might make her want to stay.
This is a story that is part “Alice in Wonderland”, part “Wizard of Oz”, part “Inkheart”, but mostly about growing up and making choices. Ash discovers a whole new world inside an old boarded up house that she discovers is really a library. This world is complete with magical adventures that derive from books and a mysterious boy who only communicates through magic and stories.
For fans of magical, mystical, sweet romance without any paranormal creatures, this book captured my attention from the start. At first I thought this was a descent into madness and we would discover that Ash was locked away in a mental hospital, but thankfully what I discovered was a magical story that pulled me away from reality into the dreams and wishes of a young girl. The ending is satisfying, if bittersweet.

PS: As a librarian, I loved the idea of getting so lost in books that the stories come alive!

[Em (Verity Reviews) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a four-star plot with a two-star writing style. The plot and conflict of the book were engaging and interesting, if a little convoluted at times. The wonder of the library and Li’s world was tangible through the pages, and Li himself was as promised - enchanting. He was the most complex character in the book, with the most thorough back story. The other characters were pretty generic and flat, even Ash. Li and his library were what made the book so interesting. The constant blurring of reality and fantasy throughout the book was marvelously done and, if not exactly believable, captivating.

Unfortunately, most of the plot was lost in overly-flowery descriptions and an avalanche of metaphors (see what I did there?). Some of the language emphasized the whimsical, dream-like atmosphere of the library, but mostly it got in the way of the story. The overabundance of figurative language and ill-fitting adverbs was at its worst in the first few chapters, but it was just present enough to be annoying in the rest of the book.

Despite the awkward, clunky writing style and a few flat characters, reading The Lake and the Library was like falling down the rabbit hole.

- Verity Reviews

[Lindsay Kitson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of books on my TBR list, but at Keycon, I attended a reading where this author read from her second book, and what she read was so messed up wtf, that I went and bought her first book.

Disclaimer: I grew up in a small prairie town, loved books and art and spent most of my time lost in fantasy worlds of literature, and wanted nothing so much as to get out of the stupid dick town I was stuck in. In other words, the main character of this book is basically me at that age. It was a little eerie.

And thus, the first thing I noticed was the main character's voice, and the narrative voice. The narrative actually reminded me of Peter S. Beagle, or Neil Gaiman, honestly, both of whom I love for their elegance of prose. I'm not one to obsess over well written prose, so when I notice it, it's because it's especially good.

The story straddles reality and magic in a surreal sort of way. The magic doesn't jump out and slap you in the face, it sneaks up on you, kind of, in a slow, subtle sort of way, and builds it's way to immersion.

A beautiful book, and I'm looking forward to that author's next one.

[Derek Newman-Stille · Rating 5 out of 5]

S.M. Beiko’s The Lake and the Library is nominally a story about growing up, and the feeling of nostalgia for things lost and things changing. It is about the discovery of a library filled with books that are gateways to fantastic worlds, pages that become birds, clouds, and wings to lift her to new highs of fantasy. The library is a shifting space, becoming other worlds as walls are expanded by the great breadth of adventure and fantasy within the covers of the books it houses, literally shifting to become fantastic spaces from beloved classics. And the library holds a boy, unable to speak aloud, but able to speak volumes in the universal language of fantasy with Ash as his co-creator of worlds of adventure.

The first part of the novel evokes the highs of an escape, new experiences, exiting distortions of reality, and only in the latter half of the novel does it become clear that this is an addict’s tale.

If you are interested in reading a larger version of this review, you can check it out at http://speculatingcanada.ca/2014/12/1...

[Mira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this novel extremely difficult to get into. I was pulled out of the narrative frequently by the language that was being used, and I struggled to believe that it was the language of an adolescent. (I work with teenagers - they do not articulate themselves in that way, in my experience). The book felt somewhat uneven to me, and there were pieces that seemed underdeveloped, such as the relationship between the principal character and her mother. I wanted less telling and more showing, in general.
The character of Li was intriguing, mysterious and fun and there was a kind of fervor in the scenes with him that managed to keep me reading.
As I type, I think my biggest frustration stemmed from the novel not really knowing what it was suppose to be. The language and style of narrative likely makes it inaccessible to younger readers, but it was not fleshed out enough to satisfy a fully grown up audience, either. It wants to be magical realism, but somehow misses the mark - despite all the magic.

[Ann Dulhanty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The writing is exemplary - many, many wonderfully smooth metaphors that make the story better. I haven't read a book with an adolescent protagonist since I was one, which was long ago, so I wasn't sure I'd relate to the story, but it threw me back into teenage angst and starry-eyed idealism in a way I liked. The only downside [spoiler alert] was the non-committal explanation at the end. The reader can believe what they chose, I think, but I'd rather the author let us know if the magic was real or imagined.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, yet meaningful book.
Well written books are always difficult to review, because the experience the reader goes through cannot be expressed via a spoken or written language. This is the case with The Lake and the Library. The book beautifully unifies reality and the world of memories, setting literature free, which can only happen if we read. Be it a poem or a story, a reader is needed to keep literature alive.
The experience is staggering... Something tells me that this book is only a fairy tale, a dream... I want to dream again.

[Mother Goose Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this unique story about a girl who has always felt a connection to a mysterious old and intriguing building in the woods of her small town. When she finds her way into it, she enters a world where Li lives - world filled with books and stories brought to life! The mysterious library is where Li has spent his time waiting for her (Ash). Mystery paired with paranormal, ghost story, even entwined with a bit of historical perspective (Li and his mother's life during the past) Recommend to those who love the paranormal, libraries, and books!! Also a unique story of love/friendship.

[Susan Rocan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the story fascinating. Samantha’s references to so many classics made me want to go back and immerse myself in those words, once more, and I hope it will encourage her young readers to check them out for themselves, if they haven’t already read them. Her descriptions transport the reader into the magical library and make them feel as if they are Ash, taking part in a marvelous adventure and falling in love with a boy who seems to be everything she’s been craving.

[Colette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A haunting love story centered around an abandoned library, Ash finds herself more and more drawn to the ghost named Li. As her home life deteriorates, she spends ever more time lost in the world of books. Beiko's original style is quite poetic and beautiful. Highly recommended for tween and teen girls.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was first drawn to this book because it said Library and books about books make me happy. Little did I know this story would be full of heartache. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Would definitely read more by Samantha. :)

[Scarlet Divine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how S. M. Beiko's first book was an homage to literature and all of her inspirations. The way the main character delves into a pool of fantastic worlds is a perfect description for every reader out there who gets swept away by the books they read. A great read.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A haunting mystery with a touch of romance that merges the past and present through the world of books. The sophisticated figurative language with an abundance of metaphors and similes will appeal to more advanced readers.

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I... don't even have words for how insanely good this book is. I'll have to write a proper review once I've sorted out my thoughts.

[Veraa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one of my favorites tbh. A secret library, a secret dude that turns out to be kinda creepy. Excellent! :D

[Morpheyy]

The writing style is too melodramatic, even for me.

[Dorian Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made my heart ache, but in a good way.