The Inn at Lake Devine

Elinor Lipman

A Jewish family are astonished to find themselves turned away from a "gentiles only" establishment - the Inn At Lake Devine - and make alternative holiday arrangements. However, the youngest member of the family, teenager Natalie, develops something of an obsession with the Inn. And as an adult she is able to take her revenge.

At times it's a sweet novel and at times less so. Sometimes it's a comedy and sometimes it's most definitely not. Most definitely intriguing throughout but Lipman never seems to take the story down any of the more interesting routes suggested by the plotting. And as the novel proceeds it becomes more and more weighed down by a rather mystifying love story. I am sure it has been much enjoyed by other readers but I put it down feeling like the author had failed to deliver her best lines.