Every year, from the end of June to the end of August, Bruce and his
family go to their cedar-clad cottage on the blue, wide lake. At first,
this summer of 1954 seems like any other: floating in the row boat with
Grace from next door, jumping off the diving raft, eating peach pie,
exploring with Angus the dog, watching the seagulls, frogs and herons
and catching crayfish. But just when he realizes life is perfect,
everything starts to change. He's 10, the family dynamics are shifting,
and over the summer both the harshness of the adult world and the
patterns of the natural world reveal themselves. By the time the weather
turns he will be a different child and will have chosen his own path to
understanding the wilderness that waits behind their wooden homes.
Funny, subtle and true, Barefoot at the Lake transports us to a long,
hot, poignant summer.