Lost Lake Books in Order

The Lost Lake books follow a single family at two turning points, linked by a shabby lakeside resort in rural Georgia. The tone is quieter than some of Sarah Addison Allen’s other work, with the magic woven into grief, memory, and second chances.

At the center is Kate Pheris, a woman who has to decide whether to stay safely numb or risk changing everything.

Waking Kate is a very short prequel that catches Kate on an ordinary day that isn’t as ordinary as it looks. She’s a young wife and mother, waiting for her husband to come home, when she notices her elderly neighbor returning from his last day at a longtime job. Over coffee he shares a story about love, regret, and starting over that nudges Kate to question how much of her life is really her own.

By the time Lost Lake opens, Kate is newly widowed, living under her controlling mother‑in‑law’s roof, and watching her daughter Devin slowly lose her spark. A forgotten postcard from her great‑aunt Eby leads them to Suley, Georgia, where Eby runs a tiny, rundown collection of lakeside cabins called Lost Lake. Years ago it was the site of one perfect summer for Kate; now it’s Eby who is ready to let go, sell the property, and move on.

The resort’s remaining regulars form the book’s supporting cast: a quiet cook, a woman who believes she’s chased by bad luck, a widow who refuses to leave the cabin she shared with her husband, and a man from Kate’s past who never entirely forgot her. Each of them arrives at Lost Lake with private disappointments and stays because something about the place asks them to reconsider the stories they’ve told themselves.

The fantasy elements stay soft around the edges, turning up in small coincidences, half‑seen figures, and the feeling that the lake itself remembers everyone who has ever loved it.

Read together, Waking Kate and Lost Lake trace how one woman moves from numb routine to making a risky, life‑changing choice for herself and her child. The short story isn’t required to understand the novel, but it adds a bittersweet extra layer for readers who enjoy seeing how a single decision can ripple outward. The result is a compact, comforting corner of Allen’s fiction for anyone who likes their tales of loss to end in a place of hard‑won light.