Summer at the Lake is the first novel of a S trilogy in which Andrew Greeley traces the history of Chicago Irish Catholics from Armisticepresent. Like mostnovels, the major Day, 1918 to the of Greeley's other social concerns are reflections of his own social scientific research (see the biographical entry).

Most broadly, the novel deals with the struggle to make sense of the past and the social changes that seem to have erased its significance. The novel is told from the points of view of three characters: Leo Kelly, Provost and professor of political science at a premier research university in Chicago; Patrick ("Packy") Keenan, a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago; and Jane Devlin Clare, the woman both men loved as youths.

On the simplest plot level, the past poses questions and a mystery that Leo Kelly, the focal character, intends to solve. During the summer...