Waking Kate

by Sarah Addison Allen

[Kim Deister]

I have been in love with Sarah Addison Allen's work since her debut novel, Garden Spells. The themes of her books are not light, but somehow she writes the stories of her characters in mystical, whimsical, and magical ways. Her writing is just beautiful.

Waking Kate is a very short read, a prequel to the soon-to-be released Lost Lake. We meet Kate, a wife and mother who seems to be at a crossroads in her life. We don't really find out what that is, clearly something that will be revealed in Lost Lake. She seems to be unsettled, feeling in her heart and soul that life is what is seemed or maybe should be with her husband. She goes through a bit of a transformation during a conversation with an elderly neighbor, but, in true Allen style, we are left wondering about that conversation. Did it really take place or is it something she dreamed. A nice lead-in to the new book!

Things to love about Waking Kate...

--The magical style of writing. I love the somewhat otherworldly way that the author writes.
--A real character. Kate is a woman that I think many of us, as women, can recognize as ourselves at one point or another in our lives.

My recommendation: A must read for fans of Sarah Addison Allen! It is free and it is short and a wonderful lead-in to the highly anticipated Lost Lake.