Barefoot at the Lake hardback

Find the paperback edition here.

Barefoot at the Lake is Bruce Fogle’s evocative account of one summer, in 1954, when his eyes are opened to the complexities of girls, adults and the natural world. Delightfully funny, with a moving wisdom at its heart.

Every year in June, when school finishes, the summer people invade Long Point on Lake Chemong. It’s 1954, and Bruce and his dog Angus are desperate to reach the lake – Angus to roll in dead fish, Bruce to count how many different birds he can see.

Barefoot at the Lake is Bruce’s evocative account of this one particular summer, when his eyes are opened to the complexities of girls, adults and the natural world. He will introduce you to a cast of unforgettable characters and animals. His strong, handsome and taciturn father who works as a florist. His mother in short shorts and a tight shirt, unwittingly charming all the men. His heartbroken uncle, and a seagull called Popeye. And not forgetting Grace, with shiny brown hair and chapped knees.

Not only a beautifully written boy’s-eye view of the landscape of his youth, Barefoot at the Lake is also delightfully funny, with a moving wisdom at its heart.

‘A long, hot summer’s day of a book, full of wonderful stories, poignant memories and acute observations of the natural world’

Kate Humble

 

‘Enchantingly written. Gently and lovingly, Bruce Fogle’s writing highlights something we are in danger of losing forever: that we can understand ourselves most profoundly only in relation to the wilderness’

Ruth Padel

Read an extract.

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An ebook is available to buy from your favourite e-retailers.

The paperback edition is available here.