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A Novel
by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nest and Good Company comes a wry and tender portrait of two families forever changed by one lovestruck decision that will reverberate for decades.
It's 1977 and an air of restlessness has settled on the residents of Cambridge Road in Rochester, New York, a place long fueled by the booming fortunes of Kodak and Xerox and, for some, the mores of the Catholic church. When Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex by her newly divorced friend, she can no longer dismiss the nearly nonexistent 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 prominent neighbor 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 humor 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.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (3/26/2026)
I'm reading 'Lake Effect' by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, so far so good. Last week I read 'I am Agatha' by Nancy Foley - my 3rd! 5-star book in a row after 'Kin' and 'Good People.' 'I am Agatha' is loosely based on a real artist set in New Mexico - a story of love, art, and grief.
-Evonne_Benedict
"As in her previous work, Sweeney's insight into all the ways people who love each other end up at bitter odds gives the big-hearted novel a welcome bite. An inviting family drama with the warmth, interest, and edge readers love in Sweeney's work." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review).
"A story of desire, jealousy, fragile family bonds, and choices both freeing and haunting, this is a gift from Sweeney." —Library Journal (starred review)
"A reverberating, intergenerational family saga...Artful [and] fresh." —Booklist (starred review)
"Sweeney excels at exploring how the characters are shaped over time by their complex family dynamics. (As Clara's new boyfriend puts it: 'People change. We change. Sometimes for the better.') The author's fans will enjoy this." —Publishers Weekly
"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
This information about Lake Effect was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney is the author of the instant New York Times bestselling novels Good Company (a Read with Jenna selection), and The Nest (named a best book of the year by People, the Washington Post, and NPR). Her work has been translated into more than twenty-eight languages. She holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and lives in Los Angeles with her family.
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