Lake Effect

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE NEST, a stunning new novel about adultery, first love and other family secrets…

'Sparkling… a joyful classic in the making' JENNY JACKSON, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street

'I could not put it down!' SHELBY VAN PELT, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

It’s 1977 and an air of restlessness has settled on the residents of Cambridge Road in Rochester, New York. When Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex by her newly divorced friend, she can no longer dismiss the nearly non-existent intimacy of her marriage. Just as her oldest child, Clara, is falling in love for the first time, Nina finds herself longing for the forbidden: a midlife awakening. An intoxicating fling with a neighbour brings Nina a freedom she never thought possible—but also risks the reputations of both families and unravels Clara’s world, just as she stands on the threshold of adulthood.

Years later Clara, now a successful food stylist in New York City, has never been able to move past the long-ago scandal. Drawn back home by the pull of a family wedding and wrestling with her own demons, she makes a pivotal decision that turns her life upside down.

Written with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s signature humour and insight, LAKE EFFECT is a wise and probing look at love and desire, mothers and daughters, loss and grief, and what we owe the people we love most.

Reviews

'A sparkling novel of love and family and the wreckage of a passionate affair. Lake Effect is tender and bittersweet, a joyful classic in the making' JENNY JACKSON, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street

'Lake Effect pulled me right into its messy, intimate web of neighbors, lovers, mothers, and daughters. Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney brings warmth and humor to this nuanced exploration of betrayal and its echoes, drawing each character’s perspective so finely that I could swear I know these people. I could not put it down!' SHELBY VAN PELT, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

'Satisfying… Sweeney captures the zeitgeist of the ‘70s with key passages in cultural history: along with the divorce spike of those years, the plot weaves in the research at Xerox that ultimately led to the personal computer, the early days of cable food shows, the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic, the way people could disappear in a time before email and smartphones and social media, and more… Sweeney’s insight into all the ways people who love each other end up at bitter odds gives the warm-hearted novel a welcome bite. An inviting family drama with the warmth, interest, and edge readers love in Sweeney’s work' KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred)

'A story of desire, jealousy, fragile family bonds, and choices both freeing and haunting, this is a gift from Sweeney' LIBRARY JOURNAL

About the author

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney is the author of the instant New York Times bestselling novels The Nest and Good Company. Her work has been translated into more than 28 languages, and The Nest is in development as a limited series with AMC Studios. She and her husband live in New York City.