By Cathy Gohlke
“The Ladies of the Lake do swear this day of our graduation from Lakeside Ladies Academy… that we shall stick by one another through thick and thin, maintain a healthy correspondence from wherever in the world our paths might wander, and be always at the ready to come to the aid of any sister among us in need. To the best of our ability, we vow to meet here, in this hallowed gazebo, every two years to reclaim and celebrate our sisterhood. Nothing but death will free us from these vows. Signed and sealed.”
– Susannah, Ruth, Dorothy, and Adelaide
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BOOK REVIEW
“After two young women’s deep bond is torn apart, what will it take to bring them together again? The Ladies of the Lake is a transformative historical novel about the wonder and complexities of friendship, love, and belonging.”
Did anyone else here grow up watching the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? 
If you, like me, adore sisterhood stories, the ‘Ladies of the Lake’ is for you. The novel follows four girls who quickly bond like sisters, vowing that wherever life takes them, they will always be there for each other. But that is before love and jealousy come between them, before the dawn of World War, and the Halifax Explosion rips the sisterhood irrevocably apart.
I couldn’t help but feel that this book was a tender-hearted cautionary tale against jealousy, envy, fear, and bitterness within Christian friendships.
As Christian women, it would be too idealistic to say our friendships are free from these sins, and yet, I hope for better things; for our friendships and for our own hearts!
And the treasure in this story is not the flaws and failings of the friendships, but the beautiful themes of redemption weaved throughout every page.
These women are relatable. They are real. They are us! But Cathy reminds us that there is nothing too broken that can’t be made whole and beautiful through Christ.
There is hope for our friendships here on earth, and as we continue to step into forgiveness and freely offer grace, we bring a little bit of heaven down here, and in the process, become a little bit more complete.
Reading this book, I was in awe of my blessings and the incredible faithful Christian friendships I’ve found within my book club. We protect our friendships from these worldly things; perfect friendships are impossible here on earth, BUT we can experience something pretty close to perfect with Christ at the centre of our relationships.
I loved it! 
Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Death, War, Post-Partum Haemorrhage, Halifax Explosion
