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The Lake and the Lost Girl: A Novel
An intricately plotted debut about love, obsession, and the destruction of a family from the inside out
It's 1999 in White Hill, Michigan, and Lydia Carroll's husband is in love with a dead woman. English Professor Frank Carroll has invested years searching for the lost works of local poet Mary Stone Walker, whose mysterious disappearance in 1939 is only rivaled by the beautiful words she left behind.
When Frank's single-minded pursuit for Mary's lost poems puts his family in jeopardy, Lydia throws herself into the mystery, hoping to solve it and bring peace back to her home. But as Lydia begins investigating, her son takes action with a plan of his own…one that will bring the family to a breaking point and change Lydia's destiny forever.
It's 1999 in White Hill, Michigan, and Lydia Carroll's husband is in love with a dead woman. English Professor Frank Carroll has invested years searching for the lost works of local poet Mary Stone Walker, whose mysterious disappearance in 1939 is only rivaled by the beautiful words she left behind.
When Frank's single-minded pursuit for Mary's lost poems puts his family in jeopardy, Lydia throws herself into the mystery, hoping to solve it and bring peace back to her home. But as Lydia begins investigating, her son takes action with a plan of his own…one that will bring the family to a breaking point and change Lydia's destiny forever.
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2017
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697 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
June 21, 2017
Upper Michigan, 1939, a young, unhappily married, poetess, Mary Stone Walker disappears. Her body is never found, poetry she had written later found in many unusual places, chair legs, hidden in window sills, lend credence to the speculation that she is not dead, but had run away.
Lydia and Frank Carroll met in college, bonded over their love of Mary's poetry and the belief that she was still alive after 1939, that there is more of her poetry to be discovered. Frank, now a college professor has been trying to assemble a book about Mary's life and continues to search for her poetry and proof that she did live longer than thought.
The book goes from 1939, Mary's journal entries and 1989, where Lydia, now a romance writer, is married to Frank and they have one teenage son. Not difficult at all to follow. The atmosphere is wonderfully dark, almost gothic in it's execution, the prose beautiful, the setting on the edge of the lake, perfect. There is a thin line between avid interest and obsession and soon it seems as if Lydia's life and marriage is mimicking that of Marys. Tension filled and steadily paced this is one I really enjoyed. What did happen to Mary and will Lydia's life turn out the same? A very good read.
Lydia and Frank Carroll met in college, bonded over their love of Mary's poetry and the belief that she was still alive after 1939, that there is more of her poetry to be discovered. Frank, now a college professor has been trying to assemble a book about Mary's life and continues to search for her poetry and proof that she did live longer than thought.
The book goes from 1939, Mary's journal entries and 1989, where Lydia, now a romance writer, is married to Frank and they have one teenage son. Not difficult at all to follow. The atmosphere is wonderfully dark, almost gothic in it's execution, the prose beautiful, the setting on the edge of the lake, perfect. There is a thin line between avid interest and obsession and soon it seems as if Lydia's life and marriage is mimicking that of Marys. Tension filled and steadily paced this is one I really enjoyed. What did happen to Mary and will Lydia's life turn out the same? A very good read.
May 20, 2017
What is up with the husband's of women who write for a living in this book. They are both demanding, violent and abusive. I spent most of this book with my fists clenched wanting to use them on Frank. A man who obsessed with finding out more about an elusive poet writer who hasn't been heard from since 1939.
This was a chilling tale filled with domestic abuse by these husbands and how these women dealt with their problem. While the deal with Frank and Lydia and their relationship was a little long in several places, I think the author just wanted you to understand the reality of Frank's obsession and how it changed him.
I stayed up way to late to finish this book because I just HAD to know how it ended! There was absolutely no way I was putting it down, I could sleep tomorrow. Chilling, suspenseful and tragic, I enjoyed this read very much.
Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Net Galley for allowing me the privilege to read and review this book in exchange for providing an honest, unbiased review.
This was a chilling tale filled with domestic abuse by these husbands and how these women dealt with their problem. While the deal with Frank and Lydia and their relationship was a little long in several places, I think the author just wanted you to understand the reality of Frank's obsession and how it changed him.
I stayed up way to late to finish this book because I just HAD to know how it ended! There was absolutely no way I was putting it down, I could sleep tomorrow. Chilling, suspenseful and tragic, I enjoyed this read very much.
Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Net Galley for allowing me the privilege to read and review this book in exchange for providing an honest, unbiased review.
July 12, 2017
Wow. Could. Not. Put. This. Down.
Read
December 19, 2016Jacquelyn Vincenta spins a haunting tale of madness and obsession wrapped around the mysterious disappearance of a brilliant poet. Sweeping back and forth in time, from the 1930s to the end of the 20th Century, Vincenta keeps you turning pages as she takes you on a journey that explores the complexities of marriage and families, professional quests as well as one’s deepest, darkest passions
February 7, 2017
I was lucky to get to read an advance copy of this wonderful debut. This tale of deepening obsession with the poetic beauty of another era feels so real it will tie a knot in your belly even as the family at stake unravels. In Vincenta's capable hands, each character's need for validation feels at once romantic and dire. I loved the echoes between the historic perspectives of poet Mary Stone Walker and the current-day perspective of Lydia, a woman who is fed up with her husband's inability to move forward with his book on Walker through commonsense research techniques. Her reliability also comes into question, since she supports the family by writing romance novels that no longer bring her meaning or joy. She would have written Walker's story differently—and just might. Inspired plot inclusions from the teenage son who wants to keep his family together. Plenty for book clubs to discuss here!
June 8, 2017
I loved this books. I felt I immediately knew the characters. On so many levels this is fiction that is true. Looking forward to her next book.
June 27, 2017
This book was really engaging. The characters feel extremly alive and real and the plot will keep you on your toes all the way to the end. You will find yourself caring about the outcome of the small, intimate, cast of characters. I was particularly impressed by the teenage boy character who is drawn in a way that I thought was both accurate and also sensitive. So often teenagers are portrayed in a way that feels really predictable, boring, and ultimately untrue, but Nicolas is not like that at all. He is a fully realized human being, just like the other characters in this book. The writing is also strong. Every few pages or so there was a line that I felt really blew me away. I liked how there were shifting points of view (thought I never found it confusing) in the chapters so I was able to feel like I could really get to know each of the characters.
There were a few important "plot twists" in the second half, or so, of the book and Vincenta really earns them. They don't feel like cheap tricks designed to keep your attention, but natural evolutions of the plot. Although I had not seen them coming at all, after each reveal I found myself thinking, "oh of course!" The final big reveal left me with just a huge grin on my face.
I listened to this book on audio and, as an avid listener of audiobooks, was also pleased to find that I really liked the reader. She does a great job with this book and really seems to have a strong sense of the characters.
Don't debate any longer! This book is totally worth a read!
There were a few important "plot twists" in the second half, or so, of the book and Vincenta really earns them. They don't feel like cheap tricks designed to keep your attention, but natural evolutions of the plot. Although I had not seen them coming at all, after each reveal I found myself thinking, "oh of course!" The final big reveal left me with just a huge grin on my face.
I listened to this book on audio and, as an avid listener of audiobooks, was also pleased to find that I really liked the reader. She does a great job with this book and really seems to have a strong sense of the characters.
Don't debate any longer! This book is totally worth a read!
November 20, 2016
This is a story of love and obsession. Frank and his wife Lydia have been writing a book about poet Mary Stone Walker. Her obscure life became a research project and hopefully a book. Mary Stone Walker had disappeared from her home in 1939 and was a mystery as to whether she ran away from an abusive marriage or was murdered by her husband. Frank is becoming more obsessive as each day passes, spending their savings on old furniture he thinks might have been hers or belittling his wife and son when they dare to disagree with him. This story is a narrative back and forth between Mary's life in the 30's and 1999 Michigan with Frank spiraling into his own reality.
July 12, 2018
The book made me think about the stories we tell ourselves about own lives, about societial expectations of women and how they have/have not changed, and about truth, secrets, and lies. Bonus that it is set in Michigan.
December 30, 2016
I read an advance copy and greatly enjoyed the story. The plot moves between 1939 and 1999 - with the similarities between the stories making the story compelling. worth the read.
April 5, 2017
Thank you to Stephanie Graham and Sourcebooks for allowing me to read this advance reader's copy of The Lake and the Lost Girl which will be published June 2017.
This is a story within a story - Lydia and Frank, she a writer, he a professor who has yet to finish his PhD, are both fans of the poetry of Mary Stone Walker, who disappeared some 60 years earlier. Frank's dissertation concerns Mary's poetry and what became of her of her when she disappeared. However, as Frank becomes more and more obsessed with the idea of Mary, his method of research goes off the rails, taxes the budget, and places more and more of a strain on the family, while ignoring more reasonable avenues of research. The story alternates between Lydia, Frank, and their son Nicholas and the story of Mary. I found myself drawn into both. Because the characters are so well-drawn and believable, I found myself caring so much about Lydia and her frustration, that I became frustrated with Lydia herself for continuing to make excuses for Frank ~ as you would with a good friend that you'd like to shake and tell them to wake up! Lydia does finally wake up, but not until after she comes to realize that Frank's obsession is hurting their son, and that Frank is beyond helping. The end is satisfying and also well done. I enjoyed the book, and will recommend it to readers who enjoy literary fiction.
This is a story within a story - Lydia and Frank, she a writer, he a professor who has yet to finish his PhD, are both fans of the poetry of Mary Stone Walker, who disappeared some 60 years earlier. Frank's dissertation concerns Mary's poetry and what became of her of her when she disappeared. However, as Frank becomes more and more obsessed with the idea of Mary, his method of research goes off the rails, taxes the budget, and places more and more of a strain on the family, while ignoring more reasonable avenues of research. The story alternates between Lydia, Frank, and their son Nicholas and the story of Mary. I found myself drawn into both. Because the characters are so well-drawn and believable, I found myself caring so much about Lydia and her frustration, that I became frustrated with Lydia herself for continuing to make excuses for Frank ~ as you would with a good friend that you'd like to shake and tell them to wake up! Lydia does finally wake up, but not until after she comes to realize that Frank's obsession is hurting their son, and that Frank is beyond helping. The end is satisfying and also well done. I enjoyed the book, and will recommend it to readers who enjoy literary fiction.
June 18, 2017
Book blurb...
An intricately plotted debut about love, obsession, and the destruction of a family from the inside out.
When Frank’s single-minded pursuit for Mary’s lost poems puts his family in jeopardy, Lydia throws herself into the mystery, hoping to solve it and bring peace back to her home. But as Lydia begins investigating, her son takes action with a plan of his own…one that will bring the family to a breaking point and change Lydia’s destiny forever.
It’s 1999 in White Hill, Michigan, and Lydia Carroll’s husband is in love with a dead woman. English Professor Frank Carroll has invested years searching for the lost works of local poet Mary Stone Walker, whose mysterious disappearance in 1939 is only rivaled by the beautiful words she left behind.
My thoughts…
This book fascinated me from beginning to end - mysterious, mesmeric, and marvelous storytelling that shows how easily a family can destroy itself once obsession and disrespect enter a relationship.
Told predominantly in current day with glimpses from Mary’s life sixty years earlier. We get an understanding of the how she lived and suffered in her marriage. The story is well plotted and easy to follow.
I look forward to future novels by Jacquelyn Vincent.
An intricately plotted debut about love, obsession, and the destruction of a family from the inside out.
When Frank’s single-minded pursuit for Mary’s lost poems puts his family in jeopardy, Lydia throws herself into the mystery, hoping to solve it and bring peace back to her home. But as Lydia begins investigating, her son takes action with a plan of his own…one that will bring the family to a breaking point and change Lydia’s destiny forever.
It’s 1999 in White Hill, Michigan, and Lydia Carroll’s husband is in love with a dead woman. English Professor Frank Carroll has invested years searching for the lost works of local poet Mary Stone Walker, whose mysterious disappearance in 1939 is only rivaled by the beautiful words she left behind.
My thoughts…
This book fascinated me from beginning to end - mysterious, mesmeric, and marvelous storytelling that shows how easily a family can destroy itself once obsession and disrespect enter a relationship.
Told predominantly in current day with glimpses from Mary’s life sixty years earlier. We get an understanding of the how she lived and suffered in her marriage. The story is well plotted and easy to follow.
I look forward to future novels by Jacquelyn Vincent.
September 14, 2017
This first novel is carefully crafted with unexpected twists and turns. The author does a terrific job of uncovering the thoughts, emotions and idiosyncrasies of each character. Each is complex and, therefore, quite believable. The movement between two time periods is smooth and creates more interest. Lake Michigan is a strong element as are poetry and antiques in this gripping tale. I highly recommend this book!
December 8, 2017
review soon
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May 9, 2025Intriguing, if somewhat predictable story. I loved the Lake Michigan coastal setting, but I had a difficult time getting past how terrible Frank was to everyone in his life. I know that was the point, but man, what an asshole.
April 7, 2017
I had a hard time putting this book down! It is a great story with many interesting and nuanced aspects around the differences between the male and female character and outlook on life. And how these same issues show up differently in different time periods.
I heartily recommend it to anyone who likes to get totally absorbed in a great story.
I heartily recommend it to anyone who likes to get totally absorbed in a great story.
July 14, 2017
Gah! This book!!! I was in love with this book until the last chapter and the epilogue. Then it just pissed me off. Seriously. Each time I picked this book up, I read the words quickly - like I had to inhale them before they disappeared. I've shirked work and home and was so excited to see how it ended. Then I finished it and yelled out loud about how the ending made me angry and my husband laughed at me.
August 25, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. A great story line with twists that I wasn't expecting. The characters were vivid and engaging. The 1930's story tied nicely and gave inside to things coming but it wasn't too much or over the top.
July 15, 2017
This is a tightly crafted story that moves between 1939 and current times interweaving the families and lives of two women authors. I so enjoyed the ways in which the story illustrates the timelessness of the influences on women's lives and happiness. I stayed up way too late reading this!
July 15, 2017
I'm really pleased to be able to review The Lake and the Lost Girl for myself. This is the first book I have read by Jacquelyn Vincenta, and I was pulled in from the first page. The book was emotionally written with exceptional detail and care so as to create vivid characters and an equally vivid atmosphere. It made me feel for the characters and the attention to detail and engaging plot had me reading late into the night, Many thanks to Jacquelyn Vincenta and her publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, for my advance review cooy of the book via NetGalley. I'd recommend it if you like a suspensful page turner with a realistic plot and characters you won't forget. The book is a welcome find.
December 10, 2017
4 1/2 stars and one of the best novels released in 2017. It is two tales that intersect - marriage woes, poetry, mystery, and intrigue. Strong female leads and a strong supporting cast. Almost reads as a historical novel, the way it expertly weaves the 1930's and 1990's together. Highly recommended.
May 22, 2017
This is a story about obsession and where it can lead you.Both stories the past and the present were interesting,when obsession turns to crazy it really heats up the story.I r4eceived this book free as part of goodreads giveaways.
July 12, 2017
Lots of good drama. Interesting premise...kept my interest throughout. This author was featured at our local bookstore so it was neat having her insight. Looking forward to more from her.
May 13, 2017
Thanks SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and netgalley for this ARC.
This novel brings past and present together in a spookley, painfully, and hit me on the forehead-I should have seen that coming way. Exciting, full of danger, love, and obsessions.
This novel brings past and present together in a spookley, painfully, and hit me on the forehead-I should have seen that coming way. Exciting, full of danger, love, and obsessions.
June 19, 2017
A terrific debut! This is an unusual and hard to categorize novel- it switches between the 1930s and 1999, tells the tale from two different perspectives, is focused on obsession, and is essential a thriller set in a literary setting. Lydia is sympathetic and believable as she tried to cope with her husband Frank's fixation on MSW. Vincenta will make you think about how we categorize spousal abuse and the fate of women in destructive relationships. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try this one for a good read that's more intense than it might appear.
January 19, 2017
The Lake and the Lost Girl began slowly and built up intensity with each chapter until the stunning climax, when all lies and secrets were revealed. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, told in both the past and present, about fictional poet Mary Stone Walker and the professor and his novelist wife who spent much of the marriage trying to solve her mysterious disappearance in 1939. I was given a digital copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.
January 10, 2023
"So if you and your husband are trying to keep her poetry and her name alive, that's a nice thing. She would have been glad, that girl I knew sixty years ago. But I don't think there is ever going to be anything more to say. Her life was cut short, and that was a tragic turn. Ours go on. I have had to accept that I will never know what happened to my friend. It is just another shadow in this world, which, while beautiful, has often made me violently sad."
~~The caption for this picture reads "Grand Haven lighthouse on Lake Michigan in a November storm." The town of White Hill, setting of both timelines in Vincenta's novel, seems to be fictional. Grand Haven is a real town situated between *White Hall* and Holland, Michigan (the latter town is mentioned in passing) on the western coast of Michigan. I pictured Mary Stone Walker looking out at similar stormy waters, late one night, as she tries to work up the courage to flee her circumstances. For 60 years people have wondered what happened to her after that night.
First two sentences: Mary Walker crouched against the attic wall, waiting. Two floors below, her husband hurled an ax into logs stacked near the woodstove, and she could hear chunks of wood clatter against the walls and floor as he cursed her.
Jacquelyn Vincenta takes us to her native Michigan in The Lake and the Lost Girl , set in two time periods--1939 and 1999. The earlier time period introduces us to Mary Walker, and sheds light on her troubled life. The later time period introduces us to Lydia Carroll and her husband Frank. Lydia was a college student, researching Mary Walker when she met Frank, and her curiosity has turned into his obsession.
Lydia has become a successful romance genre author, reliably churning out books, and financing a comfortable life for herself, Frank, and their now 15 year old son. Meanwhile, Frank is a small-town college professor, and devotes increasingly large chunks of time to solving the mystery of Mary's disappearance. As his good sense starts to unravel, and his quest begins to jeopardize their family's well being, Lydia wonders what she can do to save her marriage. Can solving the mystery also save her family? Read to find out!
My two cents: While I didn't find this novel to be quite the gothic thriller that some reviewers have made it out to be, I did enjoy the atmosphere of a stormy town on the shores of Lake Michigan. I especially liked the handling of split story lines here. The 1939 chapters are brief interludes that further drive the tension, and occasionally add glimpses of light to the ongoing mystery in 1999. Vincenta does a good job of showing a person's descent into obsession, and the moral and emotional toll that mental illness takes on those closest. How far should spouses go to support their significant others? How much should be forgiven? At what point is one justified in breaking off in search of happiness? These are questions that are explored in both timelines. While not a great book, this is a very good novel, and well worth a library checkout if you enjoy lighter offerings with a good plot, well-developed characters, and an interesting setting. Given 3.5 stars.
~~The caption for this picture reads "Grand Haven lighthouse on Lake Michigan in a November storm." The town of White Hill, setting of both timelines in Vincenta's novel, seems to be fictional. Grand Haven is a real town situated between *White Hall* and Holland, Michigan (the latter town is mentioned in passing) on the western coast of Michigan. I pictured Mary Stone Walker looking out at similar stormy waters, late one night, as she tries to work up the courage to flee her circumstances. For 60 years people have wondered what happened to her after that night.
First two sentences: Mary Walker crouched against the attic wall, waiting. Two floors below, her husband hurled an ax into logs stacked near the woodstove, and she could hear chunks of wood clatter against the walls and floor as he cursed her.
Jacquelyn Vincenta takes us to her native Michigan in The Lake and the Lost Girl , set in two time periods--1939 and 1999. The earlier time period introduces us to Mary Walker, and sheds light on her troubled life. The later time period introduces us to Lydia Carroll and her husband Frank. Lydia was a college student, researching Mary Walker when she met Frank, and her curiosity has turned into his obsession.
Lydia has become a successful romance genre author, reliably churning out books, and financing a comfortable life for herself, Frank, and their now 15 year old son. Meanwhile, Frank is a small-town college professor, and devotes increasingly large chunks of time to solving the mystery of Mary's disappearance. As his good sense starts to unravel, and his quest begins to jeopardize their family's well being, Lydia wonders what she can do to save her marriage. Can solving the mystery also save her family? Read to find out!
My two cents: While I didn't find this novel to be quite the gothic thriller that some reviewers have made it out to be, I did enjoy the atmosphere of a stormy town on the shores of Lake Michigan. I especially liked the handling of split story lines here. The 1939 chapters are brief interludes that further drive the tension, and occasionally add glimpses of light to the ongoing mystery in 1999. Vincenta does a good job of showing a person's descent into obsession, and the moral and emotional toll that mental illness takes on those closest. How far should spouses go to support their significant others? How much should be forgiven? At what point is one justified in breaking off in search of happiness? These are questions that are explored in both timelines. While not a great book, this is a very good novel, and well worth a library checkout if you enjoy lighter offerings with a good plot, well-developed characters, and an interesting setting. Given 3.5 stars.
May 10, 2022
The Lake And The Lost Girl by Jacquelyn Vincenta is a story of love and obsession. This book made me think about the stories we tell ourselves about our own lives, about societal expectations of women and how they have or have not changed, and about truth, secrets, and lies. The way we interpret writings or fragments of the past or present through blinding filters. Frank and his wife Lydia have been writing a book about poet Mary Stone Walker. Her obscure life became a research project and potentially a book. Mary Stone Walker disappeared from her home in 1939 and it was a mystery as to whether she ran away from an abusive marriage or was murdered by her husband. Frank is becoming more obsessive as each day passes, spending their savings on old furniture he thinks might have been hers or belittling his wife and son when they dare to disagree with him. This story is a narrative back and forth between Mary's life in the 30's and 1999 Michigan with Frank spiraling into his own reality. There were things I liked about the book, the setting in particular (Michigan) and the contrast between the 1930's and 1990's. I felt as though part of the story was unfinished. There was satisfaction and closure with regard to Mary Stone Walker's story, but not Lydia, Frank, and Nicholas. Overall a worthwhile read.
March 18, 2018
An obsession with a young local poet who disappeared in 1939 tests the limits one family can endure as they attempt to rescue her from obscurity.
This suffered a little 3/4's through but that is not uncommon. The main character was constantly the last to figure anything out which was a little frustrating. Frank's behaviour was astounding yet mostly believable. I liked it even if I wasn't sure how accurate a portrayal of obsession it was. The narrator made his speeches come off as more venomous then they probably would have if I was reading it myself.
All and all I liked the narrator and the audio but would never recommend it. Read the paper version and spare yourself having to hear the name Mary Stone Walker 2000 times.
Also, I would have enjoyed the highlighting of 19th and early 20th century female poets at the beginning of each chapter better in print.
This suffered a little 3/4's through but that is not uncommon. The main character was constantly the last to figure anything out which was a little frustrating. Frank's behaviour was astounding yet mostly believable. I liked it even if I wasn't sure how accurate a portrayal of obsession it was. The narrator made his speeches come off as more venomous then they probably would have if I was reading it myself.
All and all I liked the narrator and the audio but would never recommend it. Read the paper version and spare yourself having to hear the name Mary Stone Walker 2000 times.
Also, I would have enjoyed the highlighting of 19th and early 20th century female poets at the beginning of each chapter better in print.
February 3, 2018
I really can't say anything about the book or plot without spoilers. I liked the author's writing a lot but this particular story left me more annoyed than anything else. Without saying what the ending turned out to be, it could have been discovered much earlier if people had communicated earlier and I have a low tolerance for that in stories - my personal preference.
Quote from the Book
"To have someone like that. It was a wish, a prayer, and it became something that never completely left her mind. Her life would be safer if she had someone like that. To have someone like that in her life would mean this world, and even her marriage, would feel less bleak."
Find all my reviews at: https://readingatrandom.blogspot.com
Quote from the Book
"To have someone like that. It was a wish, a prayer, and it became something that never completely left her mind. Her life would be safer if she had someone like that. To have someone like that in her life would mean this world, and even her marriage, would feel less bleak."
Find all my reviews at: https://readingatrandom.blogspot.com
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews