Barefoot at the Lake cover art

Barefoot at the Lake

A Memoir of Summer People and Water Creatures

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Barefoot at the Lake

By: Bruce Fogle
Narrated by: Adam Sims
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

An idyllic summer at a cottage in the 1950s, as revealed through the eyes of a boy on the cusp of adolescence: experiencing his first crush, discovering the joy of nature, and struggling to understand grown-ups.

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 rowboat 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.

©2015 Bruce Fogle (P)2015 Audible, Ltd
Biographies & Memoirs History Summer Funny
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Runaways cover art
The Lowering Days cover art
Blackbird House cover art
The Seed Keeper cover art
Mink River cover art
Fine Just The Way It Is cover art
Barefoot in the Bindis cover art
Margreete's Harbor cover art
Beneficence cover art
Wolfe Island cover art
Harvest cover art
From Hereabout Hill cover art
The Nick Adams Stories cover art
In Our Time cover art
Marram cover art
A Children's Bible cover art

What listeners say about Barefoot at the Lake

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A tender recollection of a childhood summer.

Bruce (father of Ben) Fogle conjures up beautiful images of summers spent at his family's summer cottage on a lake just outside Toronto. Interspersed with his recollections are stories of the indigenous Indian tribes as narrated by his uncle who is recovering from a nervous breakdown following the failure of his marriage. Bruce and his friends at the lake are unaware of this and include uncle Rube in many of their activities as they would any other children.
One of my favourite descriptive passages comes towards the end of the book when the family go to watch a display of synchronised swimming by some of the local ladies whom Bruce describes as somewhat "buxom".
The postscript was particularly poignant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful book - exceptional writing

I truly loved this sparkling book. One of my all-time favourites. Highly recommended to those who enjoy biographies.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!