Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (1/6/2012)

A quiet book because Ruthie, the character through which this story is told, is reserved and amorphous. Loss and the lake's role in that loss are at the center of the story; the lake has claimed the life of Ruth and her sister Lucille's grandfather and then their mother. A bit unconvincing that the truant narrator would make such descriptive and articulate observations about the nature of loneliness.