Play Book Tag discussion

Lara is a mother of three daughters who lives on a cherry tree farm in Michigan with her husband Joe. It is during Covid and the entire family is home helping with the farm. While picking cherries, the girls talk Lara into sharing a story from when she was a young actress. For one summer Lara dated the actor Peter Duke who later became very famous and her daughters would like her to tell about this.

Lara speaks about the summer theater by Tom Lake, the plays, and the people. Joe was also involved with the group's productions, but Duke's success was on the rise and at the time it was Duke who attracted Lara. Duke does not always make the best decisions and his brother, Sebastian, takes it upon himself to look out for him. During that timeframe they visit Joe's family's cherry tree farm and both Duke and Lara love its charm and beauty.

Lara must decide if any of the story she is telling is hers alone to keep and she is right to do so. To me Duke and Sebastian were the most interesting characters; and Sebastian's loyalty to his brother is tested, but remains strong. The author also has Joe's role grow with the story; his reliability is in contrast to Duke's actions. Patchett did a good job of bringing the past and the present together with the ending of the book. I enjoyed it.