Recently in Lake News Category

Those of you who’ve been following me for a while know that I have a lake house. We actually started shopping for it at the same time that I was researching Lake News. If you’re familiar with that book – or have read my recent blogs about Lake Henry – you’ll know what the appeal is. Time spent at the lake is very different from city time. Lake time moves at a slower pace. The smells are of hemlock and pine; the sounds are of loons. The night skies are alive with stars we can't see in the city. The local country store is well stocked with cookout fixings.

Our lake isn’t always quiet. Fireworks are legal in New Hampshire and well-used, particularly in July – and the light shows are fabulous. The occasional noise at 1 AM isn’t as welcome. But we do love hearing the sounds of summer guests visiting families around our cove. They’re joyful, excited sounds. And we never complain, because when our own clan gathers, it’s our turn to make noise.

They’re coming in batches through much of this summer. That means lots of prep work on my part. Some of the groceries have to be bought at the last minute – 2% milk for this one, light chocolate milk for that one, whole milk for the other, formula for the baby. Items with a longer shelf life I buy in the city and take north with me – favorite granola bars, favorite breakfast cereals, favorite Yo-Baby flavors. Frozen yogurt is something else. With precious little to be found at the lake, I buy quarts of our favorite soft-serve, freeze them solid, and drive them up in insulated bags. Forty seconds in the microwave and the quart is soft-serve again. Over or under fresh, plump, sweet blueberries? It’s the best dessert.

We always hope for good weather, which means having plenty of beach toys. I’ve just bought a supply of new ones to replace broken ones, and we’ve cleaned up the water tubes, inflatable floats, and water skis. New Hampshire weather is not always good, though, so I’ve also bought a fresh supply of crayons, construction paper, and Play-Doh. I bought Zingo, which is the kids’ favorite game right now (a version of Bingo, but with pictures of a foot, a house, a cat, etc., in place of numbers). I’ve stocked up on paper goods for our nightly cookouts and have transferred sippy cups, straw cups, and plastic dishes from city to lake. Same with bed rails. Same with tricycles. Same with the bin of rubber balls.

Are we exhausted yet? Better not be, because the fun starts soon. And I say that in all seriousness. There is nothing better than having family with us at the lake.

The loons may even cooperate this year. A pair is currently nesting in our cove. If all goes well, we’ll have a loon chick or two soon. And watching those tiny furballs riding on their parents’ backs? Given that loon health is thought to be a harbinger of human health, I’d call that priceless.

My blog of 6’18 referred to An Accidental Woman as a “companion” to Lake News. Does that mean sequel? In my mind, no. I think of a sequel as a book that picks up the same characters where they leave off in an earlier book and tells more of their story. An Accidental Woman does use the same little lake town and does revisit the same characters as in Lake News, but the main characters from the first book become secondary to allow focus on a different group of people.

OK. Maybe I’m arguing semantics here. But I truly don’t see An Accidental Woman as a sequel. Both books stand on their own.

I first conceived of the Lake Henry books as a foursome, each celebrating a different New England season. There would be apple cider making in the fall, maple sugaring in the winter, leafing out in late spring, and tourism in summer. Truthfully, it was a marketing move; readers love revisiting the same places. And hey, I’ve designed and built more towns than you’d ever believe. The idea of not having to create a town from scratch was appealing.

I wrote Lake News in 1998, wrote The Vineyard in 1999, The Woman Next Door in 2000, then, in 2001, wrote An Accidental Woman. I thought it would be easy. Wrong. Although An Accidental Woman focused on Poppy Blake, the handicapped sister of Lake News’s Lily Blake, many of the other characters carried over – and I had to get them right. By “right” I mean keep them consistent with the first book. Their appearance, their interests, even the streets of the town had to be consistent – because if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a writer, it’s that if I make a mistake, you readers pick it up.

Way back, in Coast Road, I referred to a Volkswagen having radiator trouble; an astute reader pointed out that Volkswagens don’t have radiators. More recently, in The Secret Between Us, I referred to Dylan Monroe playing in the ninth inning of his Little League game; a savvy reader reminded me (how could I have forgotten, after sitting through so many of my sons’ games?) that Little League games only have six innings!

By the time I was done writing An Accidental Woman, my copy of Lake News was riddled with so many Post-Its that I didn't know which ones marked what. More importantly, by that time, I was tired of Lake Henry. Creating a town from scratch, with the freedom from accountability that allowed, suddenly didn’t seem so bad!

Many readers have asked if there will be a third or fourth Lake Henry book. Right now, none is on the drawing board. Perhaps you can understand why?

What with the cost of gas, it’s getting harder to plan trips. Want a quick escape that won’t use any gas at all? Why not pick up a book and visit a tiny lake town? Lake Henry, of Lake News, is just the one.

What’s so great about tiny lake towns like Lake Henry? Well, for starters, they’re on lakes, which immediately makes them special. They’re picturesque and they’re clean. For another thing, they’re small, caring places where people know each other and notice when something’s wrong. For a third, they’re seasonal, which means that summer brings an influx of visitors, which means income for locals, while the arrival of Labor Day brings a sigh of relief. For a fourth, they have charm.

Charm is one of the first things I think about when I think about Lake News, which recently made its debut in trade paperback. Lake Henry, where this book (and its companion, An Accidental Woman) is set, has that charm. Lake News takes place in the fall and talks about the making of apple cider; An Accidental Woman takes place in late winter and deals with the making of maple syrup. Both are quintessential New Hampshire and have a charm even beyond the characters.

Is there a real-life Lake Henry? Not formally. In my mind, it’s a combination of Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesaukee, right up there in the lakes region of New Hampshire. If you’re one of those readers who are planning a “Barbara Delinsky Tour” of New England, definitely make central New Hampshire one of your stops.

If not New Hampshire, where? Tell me if you’ll be traveling this summer and, if so, where you’re headed.