Up the Creek Book Club

The Inn at Lake Devine

by Elinor Lipman

June 2002

Synopsis

"It's 1962 and all across America barriers are collapsing. But when Natalie Marx's mother inquires about summer accommodations in Vermont, she gets the following reply: 'The Inn at Lake Devine is a family-owned resort, which has been in continuous operation since 1922. Our guests who feel most comfortable here, and return year after year, are Gentiles.' For twelve-year-old Natalie, who has a stubborn sense of justice, the words are not a rebuff but an infuriating, irresistible challenge.

In this beguiling novel, Elinor Lipman charts her heroine's fixation with a small bastion of genteel anti-Semitism, a fixation that will have wildly unexpected consequences on her romantic life. As Natalie tries to enter the world that has excluded her — and succeeds through the sheerest of accidents — The Inn at Lake Devine becomes a delightful and provocative romantic comedy full of sparkling social mischief." (Publisher)

Book Club Rating and Comments

Everybody liked the book as a summer read. It was enjoyable, good characters, just 'light'. A good 'beach read' but not something you can sink your teeth into or one that stays with you.

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