Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel

    Written by Jenny Wingfield

    Narrated by Catherine Taber

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Every first Sunday in June, members of the Moses clan gather for an annual reunion at "the old home place," a sprawling hundred-acre farm in Arkansas. And every year, Samuel Lake, a vibrant and committed young preacher, brings his beloved wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children back for the festivities. The children embrace the reunion as a welcome escape from the prying eyes of their father's congregation; for Willadee it's a precious opportunity to spend time with her mother and father, Calla and John. But just as the reunion is getting under way, tragedy strikes, jolting the family to their core: John's untimely death and, soon after, the loss of Samuel's parish, which set the stage for a summer of crisis and profound change.

    In the midst of it all, Samuel and Willadee's outspoken eleven-year-old daughter, Swan, is a bright light. Her high spirits and fearlessness have alternately seduced and bedeviled three generations of the family. But it is Blade Ballenger, a traumatized eight-year-old neighbor, who soon captures Swan's undivided attention. Full of righteous anger, and innocent of the peril facing her and those she loves, Swan makes it her mission to keep the boy safe from his terrifying father.

    With characters who spring to life as vividly as if they were members of one's own family, and with the clear-eyed wisdom that illuminates the most tragic-and triumphant-aspects of human nature, Jenny Wingfield emerges as one of the most vital, engaging storytellers writing today. In The Homecoming of Samuel Lake she has created a memorable and lasting work of fiction.




    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 12, 2011
    ISBN9780307737021
    Unavailable
    The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel
    Author

    Jenny Wingfield

    Jenny Wingfield is an accomplished screenwriter. Her credits include The Man in the Moon (starring Reese Witherspoon), as well as The Outsider (starring Naomi Watts). She lives in Texas and this is her first novel.

    Related to The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

    Related audiobooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Heart And Soul

      Feb 27, 2022

      Heart And Soul
      2 min read

    • Article

      Home Fires Burning

      Sep 4, 2022

      Home Fires Burning
      4 min read

    • Article

      Meandering Tales

      Apr 21, 2023

      Meandering Tales
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Poet Reckons With Her Past

      Oct 14, 2023

      A Poet Reckons With Her Past
      6 min read

    • Article

      Fellstones

      Sep 7, 2022

      ▸RELEASED 13 SEPTEMBER 256 pages | Hardback/paperback/ebook ▸Author Ramsey Campbell ▸Publisher Flame Tree Press Genre legend Ramsey Campbell’s latest flirts with folk horror clichés, but finds its real chills in oppressive family dynamics. Michael ha

      1 min read

    • Article

      Growing Mighty: How A Jamaican Author Created A Freer Life

      Nov 29, 2023

      At the outset of her searing memoir, “How to Say Babylon,” Safiya Sinclair writes that her upbringing in a strict Rastafarian household in Montego Bay, Jamaica, involved “[watching] the men in my family grow mighty while the women shrunk.” But Sincla

      2 min read

    • Article

      Love and Hate in the Time of Brexit

      Jan 22, 2018

      SOMETIME IN THE PAST FEW years, the Cambridge, England–based novelist Ali Smith and the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard had the same idea: to write a quartet of novels called Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. This month, Winter arrives in each series.

      1 min read

    • Article

      'How To Say Babylon' Centers On Resisting Patriarchy And Colonialization

      Oct 11, 2023

      Safiya Sinclair's memoir follows her journey from a scared and sheltered Rasta girl in Jamaica to a strong and self-assertive woman — exploring just how poetry became her savior.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Black History

      Nov 23, 2017

      Black History
      1 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Shipstead, Ryan, Walker, and More

      May 17, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Maggie Shipstead, Eimer Ryan, Sarai Walker, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The Millio

      5 min read

    • Article

      Folk Songs And Flowers

      Jun 30, 2020

      Folk Songs And Flowers
      2 min read

    • Article

      First Impressions

      Jan 29, 2024

      First Impressions
      3 min read

    • Article

      Gather Ye Blackberries While Ye May

      Sep 30, 2020

      OFFICIALLY, summer is over. Michaelmas—something of a moveable feast, falling on September 29, or the 9th, or even October 10 according to fancy—marks the beginning of autumn. You wouldn’t have known it, as Oliver and I, burdened with farm implements

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Oct 13, 2021

      Letters To The Editor
      2 min read

    • Article

      THE room Reading

      Feb 24, 2021

      THE room Reading
      3 min read

    • Article

      New Zealand Books

      Dec 9, 2019

      Peter Simpson draws on several decades of thinking about, studying and teaching the work of Colin McCahon in this first of two volumes surveying the artist’s career. It is not a biography of the man but a history of his work. Nevertheless, there are

      5 min read

    • Article

      Eco-inspiration, And A Right Royal Fight!

      Oct 14, 2022

      We mark World Habitat Day, World Animal Day and World Food Day in October, but how are we communicating human stewardship of this planet to the next generation? This compendium of initiatives, eco-facts and project ideas from a South African 11-year-

      2 min read

    • Article

      Best Books

      Feb 8, 2022

      Best Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Creature Comforts

      Mar 6, 2022

      Creature Comforts
      2 min read

    • Article

      Moomins In The City

      Jun 11, 2021

      In 1964, when she was in her 50s, the Moomin creator Tove Jansson settled on her dream island. Klovharun in the Finnish archipelago is tiny – some 6,000 sq metres – and isolated, “a rock in the middle of nowhere”, according to Jansson’s niece, Sophia

      5 min read

    • Article

      Favourite Books Of 2023

      Dec 28, 2023

      COUNTRYFILE PRESENTER AND BBC BROADCASTER A familiar face on our screens, Countryfile and Farming Today presenter Charlotte Smith has been a judge for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for nature and conservation writing for several years. BY HELEN

      4 min read

    • Article

      Kindred Spirits: Books, Music, Art And More About Seeing Family

      Dec 12, 2022

      As leader of 2010s indie outfit the Maccabees, Orlando Weeks’s trembly, distinctive vocals marked him out as an unusually tender frontman. His 2020 solo debut A Quickening wears this sentimentality even more proudly, immortalising the joys and nerves

      2 min read

    • Article

      Books To Unwind With During The Holidays

      Dec 8, 2023

      RamApocalypse Now by Zapiro (facana, R220) “For a cartoonist, South Africa is the gift that keeps on giving,“ says Zapiro. FFe keeps giving as good as he gets - and now rounds it up in his 28th annual. Anyone with a full collection has quite an eye-o

      2 min read

    • Article

      Viral Load

      Feb 2, 2024

      Viral Load
      3 min read

    • Article

      Epic Reads

      Mar 11, 2022

      The story opens in June 1954 with our hero, Emmett Watson, being driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile institution where he’s just finished a 15-month sentence for involuntary manslaughter. His father is dead, his mother has long sinc

      3 min read

    Reviews for The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

    4/5

    268 ratings69 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Originally reviewed here. P.S. I'm giving away a copy there until the eleventh.

      For the most part, I'm a fairly eclectic Reader of Fictions. I pretty much love at least some examples of most types of fiction. Still, I definitely have ones that I try to avoid as much as possible, and that I retain a bit of a prejudice towards. I'm not particularly proud of that, but that's the truth. I entered a blind giveaway hosted by Random House for one of their big summer titles. I won. Imagine my disappointment/trepidation when the book arrived (two copies, even). I open up the package and find The Homecoming of Samuel Lake. When I look it up on Goodreads, I see that this book resides, at least according to the community on Goodreads, in two of my most feared genres: Christian fiction and southern fiction.

      Even coming from this seriously skeptical place, I really enjoyed The Homecoming of Samuel Lake. I had been debating just giving it away, but I knew within the first page that I would definitely be reading the whole book. Judging off of genre can be a very dangerous habit, because it's such a narrow designation. Some books are completely their genre, but others, like this one, do have those elements, but are so much more.

      Though there is a lot about faith in The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, and I think Christian readers would perhaps enjoy it, I think calling it Christian fiction is somewhat unfair, or, perhaps, it is simply different than what I have thus far encountered. Not all of the characters in THoSL are Christian, both good and bad people. The title character is a preacher, but the book wasn't about him so much as the whole Moses/Lake clan.

      Although the book definitely has a summer feel to it, perhaps because there's never much discussion of schooling or of traditional employment, THoSL tackles dark subject matter, primarily that of spousal and child abuse, although rape, murder and infidelity are also big themes. The abuser, Ras Ballenger, is one of the most purely evil characters I have encountered in fiction. He abuses his wife, his son, and the horses he trains for other people. I cannot overstate how entirely awful he was. What a rat bastard.

      The characters and their relationships in the book are just wonderful. The whole Moses house seriously just brimmed with life. I adored all of the games the kids played out in the field, how seriously they were taken and how true to life they were. The various issues encountered in the different marriages also struck me as so true to life. It was also so incredibly beautiful how the Moses family came together in crisis situations, despite disagreements.

      My last main point that I must make about THoSL is that the writing is utterly lovely. Wingfield manages to write in a style that has a bit of a southern flair WITHOUT resorting to dialect. Part (perhaps up to 99%) of my distaste for southern fiction is that I hate books written in dialect, and so many are. The characters do speak in dialect, some of them, but that's the extent of it. That totally worked for me.

      So, here's what I have to say to you, give this book a chance if you like family pieces full of sassy children and familial love, even if, like me, it doesn't sound like the sort of book you'd ordinarily pick up. If you pass this one by because of genre concerns, you will be missing out.

    • 5/5
      I wouldn't be surprised if later on this book becomes a classic. It has all the makings to become a classic. In fact the comparisons between Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird and Swan from this book seemed spot on to me.Reading this book made me feel as though I was a part of the Moses family. These characters seemed so real that they jumped out of the pages and into my life. These characters are complex and flawed but most have redeeming qualities that shine through in the face of adversity.Some of the events in this book brought such tears to my eyes that I never thought I would get from a book. Reading this book was a journey filled with joy, anger, and sorrow; and it was a journey I was glad to have taken.[I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, that in no way affects the content of my review.]
    • 4/5
      Every time I thought I knew what this book was about and where it was heading, the story took another twist. The characters were very human- some were likeable, some were not, but they were all real and three-dimensional. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoy's John Irving's work.
    • 2/5
      I did not find this book as wonderful as others have, it was well written but I could not stay interested in it. The characters were strange and I did not find them endearing. There was much more darkness than I was expecting based on the descriptions of the book I had heard. Overall, I found it to be a depressing book.I received a copy of this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewer program.
    • 5/5
      This was heartwarming story of a preacher Samuel Lake and his family. I really loved this story. It was just good. I don't know how else to describe it. It made me laugh, it had me on the edge of my seat, it broke my heart. The characters were good and I fell in love with them. Samuel is a Methodist preacher with a heart for the poor and the sinners. His congregation suddenly decide they no longer have a place for him so he moves in with his wife's mother. Samuel struggles to get a job, he struggles with where God wants him. So much happens in this 352 pages. It is worth the read.Favorite quote: Besides once you start picking holes in things, it's hard to figure our which parts to throw away and which parts to keep.
    • 5/5
      This novel by Jenny Wingfield has about everything a reader might want: romance, hate, murder, rape, humor, good old southern cooking, Methodists, and many more! It's the story of pastor Samuel Lake and his family when he loses his call from the Methodists. He and his family move to Southern Arkansas to live with his in-laws and the rest of the Moses family. The Moses family are known for their honesty and for the bar that they run in a room on the side of their house. Sam's daughter, Swan, is the precocious eleven-year-old protagonist of the book, but there are many other outstanding characters as well. The book chronicles a year in their lives, and it is indeed a busy year. This is definitely one of the best books that I have read in a long, long time. I highly recommend it.
    • 5/5
      This novel by Jenny Wingfield has about everything a reader might want: romance, hate, murder, rape, humor, good old southern cooking, Methodists, and many more! It's the story of pastor Samuel Lake and his family when he loses his call from the Methodists. He and his family move to Southern Arkansas to live with his in-laws and the rest of the Moses family. The Moses family are known for their honesty and for the bar that they run in a room on the side of their house. Sam's daughter, Swan, is the precocious eleven-year-old protagonist of the book, but there are many other outstanding characters as well. The book chronicles a year in their lives, and it is indeed a busy year. This is definitely one of the best books that I have read in a long, long time. I highly recommend it.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of the struggles of a family. The characters are well developed and engaging. Good story, though disturbing at times. A quick read, though not met for a light, relaxing day, as some subject matter is quite disturbing.
    • 5/5
      The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by debut author, Jenny Wingfield, was one of my favorite books of 2012! The story starts in the deep south of Arkansas in the 1950’s, as the Moses clan gathers for its annual summer reunion in early June. A tragedy occurs and sets off a string of events that make it a summer to remember. There are so many memorable characters in this book: Samuel Lake, a preacher without a church, his wife, Willadee and their three precious children, their strong but silent uncle Toy, and their grandparents, Calla and John. The main protagonist is the Lake’s daughter, Swan, an eleven year old, with more wisdom and heart than many of the grown-ups surrounding her. There is also the devil’s incarnate in the form of Ras Ballenger, neighbor to the Moses family. All of these characters come to life in this southern gothic with such vivid clarity that it will take you a long time to forget them. This book has it all: faith, love, good vs. evil and redemption. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake had me in tears one minute and had me laughing out loud the next. Read this book; it is storytelling at its absolute best!
    • 3/5
      Unfortunately, I seem to be one of a very few who didn't care for The Homecoming of Samuel Lake. I found it to be laborious and it didn't keep me interested. Samuel Lake is a Methodist minister who is married to Willadee Moses. They have 3 children; the oldest named Swan Lake. As they gather for their family reunion on the Moses farm tragedy occurs. Samuel, who has not been assigned a congregation of his own, ministers to his own. The characters are many and while some are more compelling than others; I wasn't drawn to anyone in particular. The author writes that the book drove itself. It appears it has without any editorial direction. Just not my cup of tea,
    • 5/5
      I rarely give a book 5 stars, not because I'm a book snob, but because I typically don't find books where I truly like everything about them. Until I read this book. You really do picture each character as you read, and I like how each person has a story of their own. But not in the way where it gets confusing and you learn all the characters come together somehow. The protagonist in the book is Swan, a young, but strong girl. She learns alot about life within these several months. Too much any child should ever have to. It does have some parts that makes it difficult to read, especially the treatment of animals and children. I had to skim over some of it. I really liked this book and would definitely suggest it to others.
    • 5/5
      I just love a good Southern novel and The Homecoming of Samuel Lake certainly qualifies as one. It's set in the 1950s, a simpler time. I really liked how the author created the slow, heavy atmosphere of life in the South. The characters are fabulous - they are standard characters that are in a lot of Southern novels but they have enough depth not to be caricatures. I especially like Calla, tough as nails matriarch and her son Toy, who is the strong, silent type. I had a crush on him by the end of the book. Swan is a fun character too. Even though it's been quite a while since I last read To Kill a Mockingbird but I can see why she is getting compared to Scout in many reviews.Another thing I love about a good Southern novel is the idioms that people use and also the unique Southern names. This book was full of both. Some of the names: Toy, Swan, Noble, Blade, Willadee, Early. Somehow having characters with these names just added to the charming yet strong Southern vibe in this novel. My favorite quote from the book is from Swan:*"...there's always a faction - that's a bunch of people that get together and drink coffee at somebody's house after church, when the message is too strong and they got their toes stepped on - anyway there's always a faction that's trying to get rid of the preacher for one reason or another."As someone who's served in leadership positions at church in the past, I think her definition of faction is both hilarious and spot-on.This novel isn't all charm though. Bad things happen to good people and animals. (You may be bothered by a couple of scenes if you are especially sensitive to violence against children or animals.) Nothing is gratuitous though and everything that happens is necessary for the characters to grow. The story is captivating from beginning to end.I highly recommend The Homecoming of Samuel Lake.*This quote is taken from the advance reader's edition. The final copy may differ.
    • 5/5
      Well, I wasn't expecting THAT. What a great, well written story.Every year the Moses family has a reunion. Every year Samuel Lake brings his wife, Willadee, and their three children - after all, Willadee is a Moses but this year, in the midst of the party, the unthinkable happens and the family is shaken, changing their lives forever.Jenny Wingfield did a great job with her characters because if I'm being Just Plain Honest, I don't think I could pick my favorite character in this book but I'd say it's a toss up between Swan, Blade, Calla or Toy. However, the character I despise, with every ounce of my being, is very clear and even though I'm done with the book, Ras Ballanger, and his actions, will haunt me forever.Don't go into this book, thinking it's at all light because it has a cute cover. This book is anything but light. It was hard to read at times. Heart wrenching. I fell in love. I was disgusted. I was happy. I was sad.Definite recommend!I won this book on LibraryThing!
    • 5/5
      With names like Willadee, Swan, Calla, Blade, Toy and more how could you not just HAVE to see what was up with these people! And once you decide to go in and meet them, these folks will make you feel so very welcome you won’t want to do anything but stay. Occasionally characters have carried me away so much that I can not wait to get back to a book, To Kill A Mockingbird was like that for me, so was The Help and in the same strong tradition comes The Homecoming of Samuel Lake. And boy oh boy can Jenny Wingfield bring it. Her writing is an effortless example of subtlety in word but a plethora of emotion. This family, this extended family of Willadee and Sam, ill-fated John and the strong Calla, and the kids…especially the kids, are put through trial and tribulation, change and adaptation. Shells are broken and forged. True nature is shown and hidden. And not a word is wasted in description or on event. As to the events, and avoiding spoilers, I am impressed and grateful for the delicate handling and restraint from the typical sensationalism usually surrounding such events of recent popular fiction. One of this books true strengths is its timelessness. Taking place in the 1950’s I never got the feeling it couldn’t have taken place anytime. Taking place in an impoverished white area I never got the feeling it couldn’t have happened to any family of any race. Taking place in the south I never got the feeling it couldn’t have been anywhere. Simply put this book transcends those confines of era, class, and geography to tell a family story about characters so true to life with actions and emotions it would be feasible to meet any one of them just walking down the street. If I were to downplay anything about this book, which I have a hard time doing, it would be its title. While Samuel is a strong character and his homecoming is of essence to all that occurs, it is the relationships between the kids, and especially the kids and their Uncle Toy that pulls the heartstrings. I left The Homecoming of Samuel Lake feeling so sad that I wouldn’t get to spend more time at Moses and Never Closes with the Lakes and all their friends, but I felt 100% that the book was complete when I read the last sentence and because of that completeness, I left totally (if nostalgically) happy.
    • 3/5
      3.5 starsI have read so many glowing reviews of this book that I almost felt forced to love it. I did like it, but I didn't love it. I have been trying to pinpoint what it was about this book that kept me from loving it. I thought it was interesting. I found myself turning the pages to find out what would happen next.However, I also found myself wanting to skip pages to get to the good parts and to see what was going to happen next. There were a lot of different characters, and some of them I just didn't care to read about. The story wandered around from character to character, and the plot seemed to get lost in the middle of all that. From the title, it would appear that this novel is about Samuel Lake. And it is, kind of. But it also Swan's story. And Toy's story. And Blade's story. What exactly is the main story? Who is the main character? After reading it, I still have a hard time answering that question.
    • 5/5
      What a beautiful family story! I fell completely and totally in love with the Moses-Lake family, through all their hard times and happiness this story touched my heart it made me feel every emotion. Yes I cried a few times but the way they handle the hardships will make you want to be part of this family and never leave them. I was sad when this book ended.Swan Lake the young heroine of our story will grab your heart so fast you won’t be able to quit reading. I also loved that the Lake marriage was a strong one and they were a wonderfully loving family. Also little Blade Ballenger will have you wanting to rescue him too you will find yourself wanting to plan right along with the Lake children. Blade’s father Ras otherwise known as Satan’s Son is so despicable in the way he treats everyone and everything. If you can’t tell already I absolutely loved this book and it will be on my best of 2012 list for sure. This book is Southern Fiction at its best.Here are some of my favorite quotes:“Moses Never Closes was something folks counted on. It was a certain place in an uncertain world. Folks wanted it to stay the way it was, because once you change one part of a thing, all the other parts begin to shift, and pretty soon, you just don’t know what’s what anymore.”“And she knew Life well enough to know that if one person in a house gets really miserable for any length of time, the misery spreads like smallpox.”That last quote is from grandma Calla who has been through so many hardships of her own but knows you have to put on foot in front of the other and go on living life. Uncle Toy was also a favorite character the way his character grows throughout this book is amazing.Oh heck have I convinced you to read this yet?? This book is a must read! Go on you too will fall in love with this family!5 Stars
    • 5/5
      When Samuel Lake drives his family to the annual Moses family reunion in Arkansas, little do they realize how drastically their lives are about to change. Samuel is a minister with a calling. Unfortunately his unconventional methods have left him without a church for the next year. Coincidentally, a family tragedy at the reunion convinces Samuel Lake and his family to stay in Arkansas for a year. As Samuel, his wife, Willadee, and their three children Noble, Swan, and Bienville become accustomed to their new home with Grandma Calla, it is Willadee who holds the family together as Samuel tries to find his way again.Meanwhile, eleven year old Swan makes it her mission to defend an abused little boy named Blade, who lives on a neighboring farm. Blade's father, horse trainer Ras Ballenger, is a brutally violent man who uses violence to get what he wants from both the horses he trains and the people he encounters. As the violence escalates, Swan sets out to save Blade believing that God will grant this miracle. Swan's mission sets a whole series of explosive events in motion that once begun can't be stopped.Before the year has passed, many of the characters in this novel will have faced their greatest and darkest fears. The Lake family's faith will be tested like never before and only their faith in God, their love for one another, and a miracle can save them.The Bottom Line: "The Homecoming of Samuel Lake" is the best book I've read so far this year. While the beginning smolders, the story quickly heats up as the reader is drawn into the lives of the well developed characters. Wingfield transports the reader to Arkansas in 1956 and takes you on a journey that includes the joys of love and the depths of despair. I laughed and cried along with the characters. Although this novel covers some very difficult topics, don't let the violence turn you away from this book. While sensitive readers may want to pass this one by, this powerfully written, well-crafted novel is a compelling read. I very highly recommend it for mature readers who enjoy books about family relationships, faith, and courage. It's a classic tale of good versus evil, and this book has it all. Wingfield's debut novel is a success, and I'm looking forward to reading her future works. The characters in this novel will stay with me for a long time.Also, "The Homecoming of Samuel Lake" would make an excellent pick for book discussion groups. Wingfield has woven together many story lines in this novel and there are layers of meaning within.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable story of the Lake family and there return to the town they were raised in. Along with the farm, the swimming hole and the store, there are also dangers in the woods, and Swan Lake, the main character of the story, is about to meet up with them.I've seen this character compared to Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird, and I think there is some truth in that. Would recommend it to most of my reading friends.
    • 4/5
      What a lovely story and a beautiful cast of characters. This family was filled with so much love in the midst of so much heartbreak. I cried at the ending, and I loved that the bad guy got it at the end.I was concerned that it might be to preachy for me, and there were a few moments of over-preaching, but it didn't ruin the story for me. I would recommend this book to just about anyone.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. It was definitely one of the best I've read in awhile and number 1 so far this year. The characters were so rich and vivid as was the story and the setting. I couldn't get enough of it. I was actually shaking during the last 30 pages as I was getting so caught up in the events. I'll be passing this book along to all my friends to read and encouraging others to pick it up when it's released.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. It was a very touching and moving book. It was one of the better books that I have read lately. Loved the characters but also loathed the villan who eventually got what was coming to him. This is a story of good triumphing over evil and also the things we do to help our loved ones. Would recommend this book to anyone!
    • 5/5
      This is a delightful read. The characters were well developed and I completely fell in love with the children. Being southern, I truly enjoy southern stories and this book does not disappoint. The story is moving and endearing. I was especially fond of the girl character, Swan. A must read for summer!
    • 5/5
      The Homecoming of Samuel Lake is the kind of book that will stay with me a long time. The characters are so realistic and likable that I had to stop reading the book before bed because when bad things happened to the characters it upset me so much that I couldn't sleep. Not many books are this powerful.
    • 5/5
      There are some books that are so well written and powerful, that they leave you thinking about the story long after it has finished. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake was that sort of book for me. The characters were so real. I felt every kind of emotion reading this book. At times, I was zipping through the pages just because I could not stand the tension, yet at the same time, I wanted to savor every page of this story and not have it end.The book takes place in the 1950s in Arkansas. Samuel Lake and his family have returned to the Moses family homestead. Samuel finds himself as a preacher without a church. In the meantime, Swan, his twelve year old daughter, makes it her mission to help save a young boy named Blade, from his brutal, abusive father.This novel is also the story of Samuel and his wife, Willadee and their relationship as husband and wife. The book opens with a tragic death and with that crisis, the stage is set for a summer not only of change, but one of choices and consequences.This is a debut novel and by an author that is now on my to-read list. Amazing book! Powerful, heartwarming, and great storytelling!
    • 5/5
      following a family reunion that ends tragically and his failure to be assigned a new congregation Samuel Lake and his family decide to stay with his wife's mother until he can figure out what his next step will be. This novel was filled will some wonderful well developed characters. From Swan and Blade two children with very different family lives to to Toy who I still learning to live with past mistakes all of these characters were believable and kept me reading to see where the author would take them
    • 5/5
      This debut novel doesn't quite live up to the publisher's comparison to To Kill A Mockingbird, but it is certainly worth reading. Main character eleven year old Swan Lake is both strong and engaging as she faces an ever changing world. Each June her mother's family (the Moseses) hold a family reunion in Arkansas, but this year's fun is shattered by sudden tragedy. In addition, she learns that the Methodists no longer have a church for her hellfire and brimstone preaching father to pastor (thus relieving her of the burden of being the preacher's kid) and the secret of a neighbor is revealed. The community knows that a Moses never lies, but half-truths and lies abound as the family struggles to survive and adapt to their changing situation. And sometimes the Plain Honest Truth is harder to accept than what one chooses to believe. This is an author to watch. Her characters are well developed and believable; we share their pain and their triumphs and never give up hope that love, truth, and hope will prevail.
    • 5/5
      the characters were really good and the plot was also good. i would recommend this book for adults. it was a little bit hard for me, but over all it was really good.
    • 3/5
      I received this book from the ER program. I enjoyed it but feel it's necessary to let people know it's not always a "light read". There are some difficult parts to read i.e. violence against children and animals as well as a suicide. It is not as graphic as some "thriller" novels I have read but it was more than I had expected from this book.
    • 4/5
      After a somewhat sluggish start, The Homecoming of Samuel Lake turned out to be a wonderful, emotional read. Great, realistic characters, and beautifully written, it is definitely a book I'd recommend.
    • 5/5
      Jenny Wingfield's The Homecoming of Samuel Lake is a beautifully written tale set in 1956 Arkansas. When a family reunion takes a tragic turn, Samuel Lake and his wife, Elladee, find themselves and their three children returning to her family's farm to live. I fell in love with the Lakes and Elladee's kin, the Moses family, and enjoyed how their relationships with each other developed and bloomed through the novel. A good twist of darkness adds a bit of Southern Gothic to the mix, allowing the believable, non-saccharine goodness of the Lake children shine even brighter in contrast. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if this book becomes a bestseller and book club favorite.