The Lake at the End of the World (Knight Books) [Paperback]

Caroline MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 16, 1992 | Series: Knight Books

In 2025, in the wake of global environmental devastation, the members of one surviving family encounter a teenaged boy from a mysterious clandestine community.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Knight; New edition edition (January 16, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340568585
• ISBN-13: 978-0340568583
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,877,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down, June 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lake at End of the World (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book. Set in the year 2025, it follows two main characters, Hector and Diana, and what they experience as two teenagers in a world that is so no longer "normal". The story is told from both perspectives - Hector's story and Diana's story. It is about strangers who learn to trust each other in a world where a disaster has wiped out all but a few of the world's population. Keeping in mind that this is a book written for young adults, it is well written and easy to follow - complex enough to be interesting to adults and simple enough to keep the attention of a young reader. My only complaint is that it left me wanting more - it really needs a sequel. My husband and 11 year old daughter give it 4 stars as well and also believe there should have been a sequel.

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful apocalyptic tale, August 10, 2006

By 

R. Blodgett "the book fairy" (Gansevoort, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lake at the End of the World (Knight Books) (Paperback)

I'm a fourty+ year old female who enjoys reading young adult books to review for school bookclubs. I highly recommend this story for young readers probably starting at fifth grade/over ten years old.

The style of the book is told through the alternating eyes of the two young people, Hector and Diana, in the year 2025. They may be the youngest people left in the world. Hector having lived underground in a cave all his life and Diana living with just her family alone by a lake nearby, neither knowing the others have existed.

It is not the world we know today - read the book and you'll be reading a great story about how the world changed by the year 2025. You'll slowly learn what has happened and in the end you'll wish there was more to the story, or use your imagination to imagine what they're life and the world will be like as they grow older.

The review by V.Chang is inaccurate when he wrote "In the past, because of a worldwide plague, a group of people: musicians, engineers, plumbers, carpenters, scientists, etc. escape down to the underground for safety." He is refering to the people Hector has lived with and they "escaped" underground in the late sixties under the guise by their leader that a nuclear disaster was imminent. It is in much later years that unexplained things occur causing people to die in huge numbers.

Also there is the sentence "Diana is the headstrong girl living in a house near the underground community. Both of them meet and soon get to know each other "well."" I personally find the use of the word- well - with quotes around it to imply something very grown up in the way the two children have a relationship and that is not the case.

Hopefully this book will come back into print but until then it is worth looking for at the library! For a simular books I would recommend:
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau for kids in fourth grade and older.
For teens I would recommend Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien, out of print but well worth finding.

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and moving book, March 27, 2004

By 

V. Chang (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lake at End of the World (Hardcover)

The Lake at the End of the World by Caroline MacDonald is fantastic and dramatic tale of what life would be like because of the hazards to the environment.

The novel is set in the year 2025. In the past, because of a worldwide plague, a group of people: musicians, engineers, plumbers, carpenters, scientists, etc. escape down to the underground for safety. Under the guidance of a man called the Counsellor, the people down there are relatively safe from the death and turmoil on the surface, with chemical disasters and environmental dangers occuring every day. Fast forward to the present.

The book is told through the perspective of Hector and Diana. Hector is a boy from the underground. He and his trusty dog Stewart venture through the mazes and tunnels of the underground to the surface, where they discover surprising sights and sounds. Diana is the headstrong girl living in a house near the underground community. Both of them meet and soon get to know each other "well."

However, because of an injury and a ban, Hector is forced to escape the underground and go back to the outside world, where Diana and her parents Evan and Beth take him in. There he discovers the story of the outside: the real events and all the wonders of the lake near them. However, a problem arises with the underground and both Hector and Diana are forced to go underground again to save the entire underground group from a deep, dark fate and conspiracy.

The book is very well written and is excellent for secondary students. It proves to have depth and many themes with an excellent plot. It shows us the speculated consequences of chemical failures, nuclear disasters, oil leaks, etc. Remember everybody, you only have one earth to live on and you must protect it well!