Twenty years ago, Jane Hudson attended the Heart Lake School for Girls in the Adirondacks. During senior year, her two roommates committed suicide. Jane tried to put the tragedies behind her as she headed off to college.
Fast forward two decades and Jane has returned to Heart Lake School. She takes a job as a Latin teacher to support herself and daughter after a failed marriage.
Though the suicides are in the past, Jane finds the legend of Heart Lake lives on in the minds of her students. Jane’s own memories are stirred when a page from her old high school journal lands on her desk. Who has the journal and what do they know about the past? When one of Jane’s students attempts suicide, it appears that someone is trying to reinvent the horrific past.
The Lake of Dead Languages moves between Jane’s high school years and the present. Flashbacks are peppered throughout the tale to provide background on the earlier suicides. The suspense builds as Jane finds herself reliving the past with the belief that someone wants her dead.
Author Carol Goodman provides a healthy list of suspects. Jane’s cloistered, boarding school world includes morose, goth teens and former classmates turned faculty members.
The plot of The Lake of Dead Languages is predictable. Picture the Facts of Life cast gone bad. However, the neatly woven use of Latin and mythology propel the story. Goodman’s descriptions of the frozen lake and the physics of ice add deep, haunting elements to the novel.
Though the very last page as made-for-television movie written all over it, The Lake of Dead Languages is a decent page turner.
