Tom Lake Chapter 20: Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Once the girls know the full story of Duke, Emily is shaken, sitting with her head against her knees. Lara admits she debated whether to tell her at all. Maisie and Nell comfort Emily. Emily confesses she once fantasised that Duke would come for her, but now wishes he could go back to being just a famous movie star. Maisie admits she always suspected paternity was the big reveal and is glad to know the truth. Nell says she never believed Emily was Duke’s daughter, observing how much Emily resembles Joe in the barn. Emily stands, asks if there’s anything else from the past, and then insists Lara tell them what happened when Duke died. Lara demurs, saying they know that story.

Maisie recounts her night delivering puppies at the Minties’ farm—one puppy died—and then finding Duchess the cow standing in the middle of the road at 2 a.m. She drove Duchess home and only later saw the news of Duke’s death. She woke Lara immediately. Lara remembers Maisie sitting on the bed in the dark, whispering that Duke drowned in Capri. Mother and daughter went to the kitchen to look at news photos; Maisie told Lara she would have to tell them everything one day.

The next morning the girls had already seen the news on their phones. Lara admits she had one more private encounter with Duke: years after Our Town, after her grandmother’s death but before Joe returned, Duke called her from a rehab hospital outside Boston. He asked her to visit. She took a bus from New York, gave the name Emily Webb at the desk, and was admitted. She found Duke in a large den with other patients. He was on a break from filming, needing to stay to keep his insurance. He kissed her, led her to an unlocked bathroom, and they had sex. Afterward she left, shaken.

Outside, Sebastian was waiting. He had been visiting Duke daily. He took her to dinner, saying he sponged up everyone’s desire for alcohol. They talked about the past: Pallace, Ripley, Duke’s trajectory. Sebastian drove her all the way back to New York, and they chose not to act on any romantic feelings. Six weeks later, Lara realised she was pregnant. She used her savings to get an abortion without telling anyone. She has never shared this with Joe or the girls—it remains hers alone.

Key Events

Lara confirms that Emily is Joe’s daughter, not Duke’s, and explains meeting Duke at four years old.
Emily reacts with anger and relief, wishing she could have kept Duke as a fantasy.
Maisie delivers puppies at the Minties’ farm; one puppy dies.
Maisie finds Duchess the cow standing in the road in the dark.
Maisie sees the news of Duke’s death and wakes Lara.
Lara reveals her visit to Duke in a rehab hospital outside Boston.
Lara registers as Emily Webb and has sex with Duke in an unlocked bathroom.
Sebastian meets Lara outside; they have dinner and drive back to New York together.
Lara discovers she is pregnant and gets an abortion, never revealing it to her family.

Character Development

Lara: Finally unburdens herself of the last secret she has kept for decades. Her decision to have the abortion—and to keep it private—shows her independence and her capacity for solitary grief. She reveals a side of herself that is pragmatic, private, and resilient.
Emily: Moves from childhood fantasy to adult understanding. She admits she would have believed Duke was her father and run away; now she accepts truth and asks for the rest of the story, then signals she is ready to move on.
Maisie: Shows her practical, grounded nature through the puppy birth story and her willingness to drive Duchess home. She admits she always wondered about paternity, revealing a quiet curiosity.
Nell: The most intuitive, she says she never believed Emily was Duke’s daughter because she sees Joe in her.
Sebastian: Appears again as a loyal friend who protects Lara from a worse mistake. His choice not to pursue a relationship with her shows restraint and genuine care.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The persistence of the past: Even after years of silence, Duke’s death forces Lara to revisit a buried chapter. The past is not linear; it resurfaces when triggered.
Secrecy and survival: Lara’s abortion is a secret she guards fiercely. The chapter emphasises that some experiences belong only to the self—no one else can fully share them.
Paternity and identity: Emily’s sense of self has been shaped by the idea of Duke as her father. The truth reorients her identity around Joe, the man who actually raised her.
Cherries and labour: The rhythmic work of cherry-picking grounds the emotional revelations. Maisie’s story of delivering puppies echoes the physical realities of birth and loss, connecting human and animal experience.
The fish tank: The glassed-in holding pen at the rehab centre symbolises Duke’s entrapment and the ways people are locked in their own addictions and roles.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 20 is the emotional and narrative climax of Lara’s confessional. It resolves the lingering mystery of Emily’s paternity and reveals the most painful secret Lara has carried: her abortion after Duke’s rehab visit. This chapter reframes everything the reader thought they knew about Lara’s past, showing that her story has always contained parts she chose not to tell. It also completes Emily’s arc from fantasy to reality, and highlights the strength of Lara’s bond with Sebastian, who respected her enough not to complicate her life further. The chapter reinforces the novel’s central idea that love, family, and truth are messier and more forgiving than fairy tales.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Lara register as “Emily Webb” to visit Duke in the rehab hospital? Lara uses the name of the character she played in Our Town partly because the woman at the desk cannot find her under her real name, but more importantly because that role connects her to the summer with Duke. It also shows how she is still defined by that experience—subconsciously or not—and how she uses the past to gain access to the present.

2. What does Maisie’s story about Duchess the cow add to the chapter? Maisie’s tale of delivering puppies and finding Duchess on the road mirrors the themes of birth, death, and unexpected care. It also provides a moment of ordinary life interrupting the intense emotional confession, reminding the reader that the cherry farm is still operating and that family rituals continue even amid revelation.

3. Why does Lara keep the abortion a secret from Joe and the girls? Lara explains that “what I did was mine alone to do.” The abortion was a private decision made in a period of her life before Joe returned. She sees it as a necessary act of survival and agency, not a betrayal. By not telling them, she protects both herself and them from a pain that would not change the present. It also parallels the theme that not all truths need to be shared to be real.