The Lake of Dead Languages: A Book Review

At the beginning of the book The Lake of Dead Languages, Ms. Hudson finds herself recently divorced with a young daughter, and is unemployed. She takes a position as a Latin teacher at the private girls school she graduated from 20 years ago. She also receives housing on campus, located in the Adirondacks on a lake, for her daughter and herself.

The legend of the lake is that three sisters died in the lake. The legend caused three girls to commit suicide while she was a student. When she reluctantly returns to the school, she finds that the legend of the lake is still believed and influences students to commit suicide.

The safety of Olivia, her daughter, is in jeopardy. As a result, she stays with her father for a while.

Ms. Goodman weaves the history of the campus - its past and present influence, into the present day students lives. She does a wonderful job of keeping you coming back for more. The author lets the reader know this through actions and not words. This makes the read move along and is quite interesting. Ms. Hudson's connection to the past is discovered by someone and applied to the present. The mystery is who is trying to use the legend for their own purpose.

Ms. Hudson makes Latin interesting in that she has students take Latin names (Vesta, Athena, and Aphrodite) The students also act out a play. Everything that happens in this book, Ms. Goodman relates to solving the mystery.

From the Author:

There is a guide for the reader located at the back of the book. This proceeds to tell you how the author got the idea for the book and also, what she meant to say. Also enclosed with this book is a list of questions about the book.

Moral:

The past of each one of us influences our future. We, however, can determine how much it will be an influence.