Lake of Sorrows
A Novel
Someone has come to this quagmire to sink their dreadful handiwork -- and Nora soon realizes that she is being pulled deeper into the land and all it holds: the secrets to a cache of missing gold, a tumultuous love affair with archaeologist Cormac Maguire, and the dark mysteries and desires of the workers at the site. As they draw closer to the truth, Nora and Cormac must exercise the utmost caution to avoid becoming the next victims of a ruthless killer fixated on the gruesome notion of triple death.
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Book details:
- Scribner |
- 512 pages |
- ISBN 9781416531920 |
- March 2006
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Chapter 1
Seventy miles straight west of Dublin, at the northern perimeter of Loughnabrone Bog in the far western reaches of County Offaly, Nora Gavin had already formed a distinct image of the man she was supposed to rescue today. It was not a complete figure she imagined, for the man she was going to see had been cut in half -- jaggedly severed by the sharp blade of an earth-moving machine. The image lodged in the back of her mind was of frayed and slightly shrunken sinews, ragged patches of skin tanned brown from centuries spent steeping in the bog's cold, anaerobic tea. She knew she should feel grateful that even a portion of...
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Book Reviews
Reading Group Guide
Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart
1. Lake of Sorrows opens with a graphic scene: a young man sinking and eventually drowning in a bog. After reading the whole story, can you be certain of the young man’s identity, or is it still ambiguous? What does the opening chapter foreshadow about rest of the book?
2. The industrial bogs of the Irish midlands provide a most unusual atmosphere in this novel. The bog has played many roles in Irish history, as a place of spirituality, mystery, and commerce. What does this unique environment contribute to the story? What elements of the bog landscape can you see reflected in the psychological development of the characters?
3. The bog has often functioned as hiding place for secret treasure. Many of the characters in Lake of Sorrows have hidden or buried physical objects, or intangible things such as their personal history or emotions. Can you think of examples? Which are revealed in this novel, and which still remain buried at its conclusion? What do the things people hide reveal about them as characters?
4. Sacrifice is one of the major themes in Lake of Sorrows. The bog that was once a mysterious place of sacrifice in ancient times is being sacrificed in modern times to generate electricity. In what other ways do ideas about sacred offerings and sacrifice still resonate in the characters’ daily lives?
5. Nora wishes she could se see more
