HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel by…
Loading...

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel (original 2010; edition 2012)

by Jenny Wingfield

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
5569642,845 (4.1)1 / 32
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:

??Raw, dark, and powerful . . . Southern Gothic at its best. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake puts one in mind of Erskine Caldwell and Flannery O??Connor.???Fannie Flagg

Every first Sunday in June, members of the Moses clan gather for an annual reunion at a sprawling hundred-acre farm in Arkansas. And every year, Samuel Lake, a vibrant and committed young preacher, brings his beloved wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children back for the festivities. In the midst of it all, Samuel and Willadee??s outspoken eleven-year-old daughter, Swan, is a bright light. Her high spirits and fearlessness have alternately seduced and bedeviled three generations of the family. But just as the reunion is getting under way, tragedy strikes, jolting the family to their core and setting the stage for a summer of crisis and profound change.
 
With the clear-eyed wisdom that illuminates the most tragic??and triumphant??aspects of human nature, Jenny Wingfield has created an enduring work of fiction.
 
??Jenny Wingfield has given us a spectacular novel [that] will make you laugh out loud one minute, hold your breath the next, and weep when you least expect it.???Dorothea Benton Frank, author of Folly Beach
 
??[This novel] touches on many genres??family life, Christian fiction, coming-of-age, and suspense. . . . Readers will love it.???Library Journal (starred review)
 
??Wingfield hooks the reader with her opening sentence. . . . The reader is thoroughly caught up in the family saga.???Abilene Reporter-News
 
??A lovely debut . . . a bittersweet, inspirational tale.???The Dallas Morning News
 
Look for special feat
… (more)

Member:MsNick
Title:The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel
Authors:Jenny Wingfield
Info:Random House Trade Paperbacks (2012), Paperback, 352 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****1/2
Tags:None

Work Information

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield (2010)

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

» See also 32 mentions

English (97)  Dutch (1)  All languages (98)
Showing 1-5 of 97 (next | show all)
Here's what I wrote about this read in 2012: "Down-home family dealing with various crises and challenges. Good story-telling and good vibes as goodness prevails." ( )
  MGADMJK | Nov 25, 2023 |
This is an absolute stunner of a debut, and I don't know how it wasn't on my radar until 9 years after publication.

To borrow a phrase (well, a book title) from the late [a:Lewis Grizzard|85317|Lewis Grizzard|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1303841755p2/85317.jpg], Ms. Wingfield "tore out my heart and stomped that sucker flat." Her characters are brilliant: I didn't just read about them, I knew them. I was there with them, and I felt their pain. Boy, did I ever feel their pain. But I also felt their love and their courage. What a fantastic journey the book was! I surely hope there are more books brewing in Ms. Wingfield's fertile imagination. ( )
  AuntieG0412 | Jan 23, 2023 |
Great novel about extended family, good and evil, religion, and young kids in the South just after the War (I think). Reminds me of books like Cold Sassy Tree, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. Very worthwhile, but it does have some mature parts, so I'd say 16 and over or something like that. ( )
1 vote kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake really earned its and I would give it more if I could. Set in Southern Arkansas in the 1950s, it packs several giant sized wallops to the heart and the gut.

The Moses family always had a family reunion on the first Sunday of June. John Moses was stuuborn about that. His daughter, Willadee pleaded with him to change the date. It was the same date that the Methodist ministers met to decide the fate of their pastors. Usually the Lake family in Louisiana had to move to a different parish year. Willadee and the children had to attend the reunion without Samuel Lake so that he could attend the important meeting in Louisiana. But tragedy marked the reunion and was echoed in a way at the meeting in the other state.The tragedy was a omen to me of what was to come later in the lives of the Moses and Lake family.

After the tragedy, the Moses family including Calla, John's wife and Willadeen, his daughter were torn with regret and grie. But Samuel Lake told unimaginable news to Willadeen, his wife. There would be no parish this year. He had angered the Methodist ministers by seeking out the poor and forgotten of the community to join his services. They had no home to go to. He decided to bring his family to Arkansas to live with Calla.

I have no favorite charactor but many favorite ones.

There was an incrediably mean man, Ras Ballenger, a wife beater, child abuser, a man who would kill the spirit of the horses that he was paid to train. When I read about him, my hands would begin sweating.

Samuel Lake who was very handsome, quick tempered but all heart.

Willadeen Lake who loved Samuel to the deepest part of soul, her mother, Calla who gained widom the hard way.

Swan Lake who hated her name and finds away into your heart and soul, with brothers, Noble and Benvile.

Toy Moses, big guy, lost his leg in the Civil War, saving the life of a black man and lost one of his legs in doing so. His wife, Bernice who was never satifed and wanted Samuel Lake to be hers. I hated her so much.

Blade Ballenger, kept running away from his father, finally family to the Lake family, a tough life for him and full of love for Swan.

Have I told you too much? I hope not! I hope that you read this amazing book. ( )
  Carolee888 | Aug 14, 2022 |
4.5 rounded up!

Jenny Wingfield's style of writing kept me flipping pages. In any given chapter, you'd hear from various characters, but it wasn't confusing at all. She is a screen writer, and she wrote one of my favorite coming of age movies - THE MAN IN THE MOON - which was Reese Witherspoon's acting debut.

The only thing that kept HOMECOMING from being a five star read for me was the ending. (no spoilers) While engaging, and satisfactory, (and not entirely unexpected) I didn't have that enthralled feeling I'd had for most of the book. The ending came with a hint of magical realism, which I never mind, and the actions of certain individuals were understandable/plausible, no doubt, but after a couple of events that would bring about the conclusion, I was more or less sort of skimming, just to know the resolution, etc.

Previously, I'd been gulping this story down, and couldn't wait to get back to it, so, for whatever reason, this was a bit puzzling. In other words, I didn't finish, and think WOW. I finished, and thought, well, that was pretty good.

This is a book I'd certainly recommend, regardless of my opinion of the ending! ( )
  DonnaEverhart | Jun 21, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 97 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Jenny Wingfieldprimary authorall editionscalculated
Taber, CatherineNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
For Taylor, Amy, Lori--who never once said they wished I was normal.

And for Jim, Ruth, Clif and Hal--who probably said it, but not where I could hear.
First words
John Moses couldn't have chosen a worse way, or a worse day to die, if he planned for a lifetime.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:

??Raw, dark, and powerful . . . Southern Gothic at its best. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake puts one in mind of Erskine Caldwell and Flannery O??Connor.???Fannie Flagg

Every first Sunday in June, members of the Moses clan gather for an annual reunion at a sprawling hundred-acre farm in Arkansas. And every year, Samuel Lake, a vibrant and committed young preacher, brings his beloved wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children back for the festivities. In the midst of it all, Samuel and Willadee??s outspoken eleven-year-old daughter, Swan, is a bright light. Her high spirits and fearlessness have alternately seduced and bedeviled three generations of the family. But just as the reunion is getting under way, tragedy strikes, jolting the family to their core and setting the stage for a summer of crisis and profound change.
 
With the clear-eyed wisdom that illuminates the most tragic??and triumphant??aspects of human nature, Jenny Wingfield has created an enduring work of fiction.
 
??Jenny Wingfield has given us a spectacular novel [that] will make you laugh out loud one minute, hold your breath the next, and weep when you least expect it.???Dorothea Benton Frank, author of Folly Beach
 
??[This novel] touches on many genres??family life, Christian fiction, coming-of-age, and suspense. . . . Readers will love it.???Library Journal (starred review)
 
??Wingfield hooks the reader with her opening sentence. . . . The reader is thoroughly caught up in the family saga.???Abilene Reporter-News
 
??A lovely debut . . . a bittersweet, inspirational tale.???The Dallas Morning News
 
Look for special feat

No library descriptions found.

Book description
A bewitching debut novel in the vein of the much-loved classic Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe. It's 1956 and Samuel Lake, a handsome preacher, is voted out of his ministry by yet another congregation, disappointed by his relentless pleas for them to live more charitable lives. Out of options and out of pocket, Samuel and his family are forced to move in with their Arkansas in-laws, the rambunctious Moses clan. At first they thrive in the unruly sea of relatives -- Willa, Samuel's wife, runs the bar for Grandma Calla, while the boys, Noble and Bienville, run riot through the surrounding countryside. But when Swan, their formidable but loveable 11-year-old tomboy, crosses the path of neighbour Raz Ballenger, things take a turn for the worse. Raz Ballenger, horse trainer, is a man who rules both his family and his animals through terror. Used to instant obedience, he is insulted when Swan leaps to his son's defence, an act that sets a whole chain of unexpected and terrible events into motion!
Haiku summary

LibraryThing Early Reviewers Alum

Jenny Wingfield's book The Homecoming of Samuel Lake was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.1)
0.5 1
1 1
1.5 1
2 5
2.5 3
3 26
3.5 6
4 74
4.5 24
5 61

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,239,861 books! | Top bar: Always visible