The Lake at the End of the World

Here are some summaries I found online about the novel.  They are examples of summaries written from different perspectives.  Some are trying to sell the book, others are reviewing it.

“The Lake At The End Of The World” is a science fiction story set in the future. It is not a very nice future. The world has been destroyed by a lot of pollution and people have been poisoned. Diana lives with her mum and dad next to this lake. They don’t use the lake because they think it is polluted. The family used to contact other people by radio, but that doesn’t happen much anymore. Her mum and dad have given up on life.

Diana gets around by flying. She has this hang glider that she uses. One day she meets a strange boy, Hector. The thing about Hector is that he is very pale and talks differently. Diana learns later that this is because Hector lives underground away from the sun.

Diana and Hector learn to trust each other and they become friends. She learns from Hector that the lake is not poisoned and that the water can be drunk.

Hector takes Diana to this strange community that lives underground. This community is ruled by a boss who doesn’t treat his people very kindly. Hector and Diana eventually escape from this place and live on the surface.

You need to be a good reader for this novel. It is best read by Year 6 students and above. It is an interesting story, but a bit hard to follow in places.

I would give it a score of 8/10 and would recommend it to good readers who enjoy fantasy/science fiction.

Mia, Yr 6, Victoria

This text is written in an unusual form. There are two main characters – Diana and Hector. These two characters take turns telling us about their experiences. Diana also writes several journal entries that let us know what she is really thinking and feeling. The two start the novel as strangers who had lived in different worlds all their lives. Through the novel Diana and Hector come to an understanding of each other’s world and learn more about themselves.

From Publishers Weekly

The end of the world is not a place but a time not too far in the future, a premise that is not as farfetched today as it would have seemed a decade ago. The world is practically dead, because its ecology has collapsed. At Redfern Lake, in Australia, preserved as a wilderness, live Evan Redfern, an ornithologist, his wife Beth and their daughter Diana. One day, Diana stumbles across a young man, Hector, escaped from a community that has lived for decades in a cavern deep below the lake, unbeknownst to Evan and Beth. The community’s megalomaniac leader, the Counselor, had virtually kidnapped bright young scientists to found an underground utopia. Hector’s narrative alternates with Diana’s; at first, because Diana’s thoughts are printed in italic, this looks confusing, but the device makes the story more immediate and the characters easier to identify with. When Beth falls ill and needs medicine, Diana and Hector brave the Counselor in his cavern and fall foul of his plot to destroy the lake. But all ends well, and when the Redferns are joined by many from underground, there’s hope for humanity’s survival and the earth’s renewal. A satisfying work of future fiction. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10– The 21st Century begins with the signing of a worldwide nuclear disarmament treaty thought to be earth’s salvation; unfortunately disaster and decimation arise from a combination of nuclear accidents, toxic oil spills, and experimentation with dangerous herbicides, which cause everyone to die. In the year 2025 Diana and her parents, living on a farm beside beautiful, self-preserving Redfern Lake, have had no contact with any other settlements in a year and realize that they are probably the last of all humans. One day Diana stumbles across Hector, a boy who has been part of a secret society living underground since 1968, who just happens to have followed his dog out of the underground maze of tunnels. The lives of Diana, Hector, and Redfern Lake follow an intertwining course from that initial meeting. The Eden-like setting of Redfern Lake, an oasis in a devastated world, offers a plausible rationale for Diana’s family to still be alive. Reading of their survival techniques is akin to reading a modern version of Swiss Family Robinson ; although rescue is not possible, the discovery of this secret society, a handpicked assortment of scientists, artists, musicians, cooks, etc., grants Diana’s family hope for companionship in their isolated world. The characters, dialogue, and plot in this science fiction adventure are all top-rate. –Pam Spencer, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Fairfax County, Va.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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