Books to Borrow Claysburg Area Public Library Recommends

Eleven-year-old Adelaide Rose MacNeill’s life was turned upside down when her parents were suddenly killed in a storm between Prince Edward Island and the mainland. Her parents had taken a trip to the mainland to shop but the ferry ride home was swept away by the storm. She didn’t know who identified the bodies. All Adelaide found of her mother was a shoe. There were many funerals held the next week. Her half-brother, Lemuel, came for the funeral and to settle their parents’ estate. It was all a whirlwind for Adelaide to see her parents’ cherished possessions hauled away and her home sold. Lemuel didn’t lose any time. He announced that she would be going to a women’s boarding school, Lakeside Ladies Academy in Connecticut. She would never return to PEI.

It was her twelfth birthday when Lemuel placed her on a ship and informed her that her train ticket would be waiting for her in Boston to Hartford. Adelaide had never traveled before, let alone by herself. Mrs. Simmons, an elderly lady, shared a berth with Adelaide and became a very good friend.

Upon arriving at Hartford, she was met by Dorothy (Dot) Belding. She soon met Susanna Eudora Calhoun and Ruth Hennessey. The girls were from different backgrounds and yet they grew very close. Dot lived on a nearby farm. Susanna was from an elite Southern family. Ruth was from north of Halifax. They were the younger girls at the school. The older girls liked to make life miserable for the younger girls. Adelaide’s Old girl, Mildred, was especially cruel to Adelaide (Addie) so the girls took pleasure in tricking Mildred. The four girls met at the gazebo near the lake. They called themselves “The Ladies of the Lake.” They each took an oath to support each other the rest of their lives and to meet every two years at the gazebo.

Dot and Addie were asked to stay at the school after graduation to assist the teachers. If they did well, they would be asked to remain the next year. Ruth went off to the university and then on to nursing school. Susanna was destined to have her debutant ball and marry well.

A rift arose between Dot and Addie when they both fell in love with the same tall, handsome man, Stephen Meyer. The Meyer family immigrated from Germany and lived next door to Dot’s farm. When the Great War broke out, the family suffered persecution because of their German heritage. While Dot and Addie defended the family, Ruth and Susanna declared it unpatriotic to associate with them. Would the Ladies of the Lake sisterhood survive?