Tom Lake

Emily, 26, is the eldest of Lara’s three daughters. When she was younger, she surprised Lara and Joe by announcing that she wanted to take over the farm, and followed through by getting degrees in horticulture and agribusiness at Michigan State University. Emily lives in a smaller house on the farm with her partner, Benny, whose family owns the neighboring farm.

However, Emily’s interest in taking over the farm comes with the surprising revelation that she and Benny will not have children: “I don’t know if I want them but I’m sure I’m not going to have them” (142). Her decision is based on fears about the future and her determination to focus her energies on saving the farm in the face of climate change; however, to her parents, the choice to not continue the family line means that the existence of the farm as a family legacy that has made it through six generations of Nelsons will be over.

Emily and Lara have a tumultuous relationship, the result of Emily’s teenage obsession with Duke. The remnants of this infatuation linger, and the family tends to tiptoe around her as a result. At the beginning of the novel, this dynamic still exists, but through Lara’s telling of the story, Emily’s idealistic perception of Duke is dismantled. By the end, Emily has reconnected with her mother in a new way, their intimacy deepened by Lara’s honest retelling of her history with Duke. 

Maisie is Lara and Joe’s middle daughter. She is 24 years old, and two years into veterinary school when the family returns to the farm. The uncertainty of her future as a result of the pandemic is reflected in Lara’s comment that “Maisie will begin her third year of veterinary school in the fall, if in fact there is school in the fall” (9).

Throughout the novel, Maisie is called upon to perform veterinary duties for friends and neighbors who, because of the pandemic, don’t want strangers in their homes. Maisie’s kindness and compassion is evidenced by her willingness to be on call all hours of the day for her neighbors’ animals, for which she is paid in kind rather than in money.

Maisie is named after Joe’s aunt, from whom they bought the cherry farm and with whom Lara felt a deep connection. Lara credits her daughter with much of the older Maisie’s steadfast and reliable character: “I can argue with Maisie because Maisie is logical and strong. […] Maisie is up for it; no one will ever have to worry about Maisie” (81). Although she worries about her other daughters, Lara doesn’t worry about Maisie, saying, “Chemistry was nothing for Maisie. Sick calves are nothing. She is never afraid” (99).

Nell, 22, is Lara and Joe’s youngest daughter. Named after Lara’s grandmother, she is just beginning her career as an actor, a profession that is completely derailed by the pandemic. Unlike Emily and Maisie, Nell can’t work on the farm, so she struggles with purposelessness. Yet Nell remains philosophical, joking that she “went to college so [she] wouldn’t have to pick cherries” (25).

Nell is physically small, like Lara, and as the baby of the family, is somewhat coddled; as Lara explains, “I will always be afraid of accidentally breaking something in Nell that is fragile and pure” (81). They tend to see Nell as “the sweet one, the small one, the baby” (214). However, Nell is also driven in her desire to be an actor—Lara notices that “[s]he works at her craft constantly. Even picking cherries, I swear I can see her thinking about how other people might pick cherries” (47). In turn, Nell resents her mother, who effortlessly fell into the career Nell wants so badly, and walked away from it.

Nell’s acting skills and her understanding of How Storytelling Shapes Understanding give her insight into Lara’s narrative that, at times, seems prescient. She foresees what will happen, proving to be a thoughtful and intelligent reader.

Joe is Lara’s husband, and appears in her story first as Nelson, the director of the production of Our Town at Tom Lake. Joe’s steadiness and constancy is one of his main character traits. As Lara says, “Of all the things in life that have changed, Joe has changed the least” (171). Joe is trustworthy and is also an understated person, which made him a good director and Stage Manager: “Your father was a relief. He never tried to call any attention to himself” (207). Joe’s self-effacing nature makes him a foil to the attention-hungry Duke: “Joe is not Duke. Joe was never Duke and I would never have wanted him to be” (97).

Joe was a famous theater director, and yet walked away from it all to run his family’s farm. When Nell asks him why, he replies: “I had two lives, […] Maybe more than two. I got to do everything I wanted. Who can say that?” (172). He does not regret his choice; he symbolically embodies the farm: “He smells like the cherry orchard” (208). Because of this, Joe feels the pressure of running the farm most: Lara comments several times on how Joe works nearly all the hours he is awake. This stress is exacerbated by the pandemic, as their harvest workforce is cut by two-thirds. Joe also worries about the future of the farm; he is relieved that Emily is willing to take it over, but her announcement that she won’t be having children is a blow to the farm’s future that affects him greatly.