The Inn at Lake Devine - (Vintage Contemporaries) by Elinor Lipman (Paperback)

About the Book

In 1962 Vermont, Natalie's mother is told that a summer resort does not accept Jews. When Natalie tries to enter the world that has excluded her, she succeeds beyond her wildest dreams through the sheerest of accidents.

Book Synopsis

A novel of sparkling social mischief from the beloved author of Ms. Demeanor and Every Tom, Dick & Harry.

This "tale of delicious revenge" (USA Today) is also "a punchy little comedy of manners.... Think Jane Austen in the Catskills" (Chicago Tribune).

It's 1962 and all across America barriers are collapsing. But when Natalie Marx's mother inquires about summer accommodations in Vermont, she gets the following reply: The Inn at Lake Devine is a family-owned resort, which has been in continuous operation since 1922. Our guests who feel most comfortable here, and return year after year, are Gentiles. For twelve-year-old Natalie, who has a stubborn sense of justice, the words are not a rebuff but an infuriating, irresistible challenge.

In this beguiling novel, Elinor Lipman charts her heroine's fixation with a small bastion of genteel anti-Semitism, a fixation that will have wildly unexpected consequences on her romantic life. As Natalie tries to enter the world that has excluded her--and succeeds through the sheerest of accidents--The Inn at Lake Devine becomes a delightful and provocative romantic comedy.

Review Quotes

"A punchy little comedy of manners.... Think Jane Austen in the Catskills." --Chicago Tribune

"A tale of delicious revenge." --USA Today

"A funny, knowing novel about how love really does conquer all.... Thanks to Lipman's deft touch, the novel...rivals her own best work for its understanding of the way smart, opinionated people stumble toward happiness." --Glamour

"Delightful.... [A] witty romantic comedy." --The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

ELINOR LIPMAN is the author of many books, including the novels The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, The Dearly Departed, The Ladies' Man, The Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel's Bed, The Way Men Act, Then She Found Me, Ms. Demeanor, and Every Tom, Dick & Harry, as well as a collection of stories, Into Love and Out Again. She has been called "the diva of dialogue" (People) and "the last urbane romantic" (Chicago Tribune). Book Magazine said of The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, "Like Jane Austen, the past master of the genre, Lipman isn't only out for laughs. She serves up social satire, too, that's all the more trenchant for being deftly drawn."

Her essays have appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, Gourmet, Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times' Writers on Writing series. She received the New England Booksellers' 2001 fiction award for a body of work.