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A Wedding in December |
A group of school friends reunite for a wedding after 26 years, and past loves, problems, tragedies and secrets surface. It's beautifully written, each character is brilliantly drawn, and the interweaving of the past is very well done. This is completely absorbing and at times heartbreaking: after a couple of weaker books, Shreve is right back on form.
(Annie Noble - bwl 36 September 2006) |
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Fortune's Rocks |
This is the first book I have read by this author and I can't wait to try more. A lovely novel about a young girl in her mid-teens, holidaying with her parents at fashionable Fortune's Rocks on the east coast of America. Set in the very end of the 19th century, this is the tale of her passionate and destructive affair with a man much older than herself. I couldn't put it down.
(Caroline Winstanley - bwl 15 October 2002) |
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Light on Snow |
While walking through woods, a man and his daughter find a newborn baby abandoned in the snow. For two people who have already suffered trauma through great loss, it is an especially shocking discovery. Through the 'voice' of the 12-year old, we come to understand and see how different her perceptions are from those of her father, the dilemmas they both face and how, in the end, forgiveness can overcome the ability to condemn.
(Polly Sams Plant - bwl 34 April 2006) |
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Light on Snow |
Nicky's mother and baby sister have recently died in a car crash. She and her father find a new-born baby abandoned in the snow-bound woods. The mother of the abandoned child seeks them out. These bare facts are woven into a lucid, beautifully observed and moving story of grief, forgiveness and hope seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old - no banal happy endings but real, evolving truths. One of Shreve's very best.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 60 Spring 2011) |
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Sea Glass |
The story of a young couple in Eastern USA during and after the Great Crash of 1929. A harrowing human tale seen through the eyes of the six main characters in turn and partly set against a background of labour troubles in the local textile mills. I found it really gripping.
(Wendy Swann - bwl 18 April 2003) |
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The Last Time They Met |
This is a plausible tale of intermittent passion and constant love told without sentimentality. Anita Shreve's descriptive powers shine in the portion set in Kenya, her economy of words immediately transports you to the baked earth and blazing colours. All temperatures soar as Tom and Linda meet after having lived separate married lives for some time. The temptation to resist each other is absurd. An intelligent romance with the sumptuousness of an over ripe mango.
(Claire Bane - bwl 11 October 2001) |
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The Pilot's Wife |
Kathryn is shattered when the plane piloted by her husband Jack crashes, appalled to hear rumours that he was responsible. Attempting to clear his name, she searches for clues to his last days and discovers that she hardly knew him. The plot is complex but increasingly gripping as the story gathers momentum and Kathryn learns more and more about Jack's double life. Good for a wet weekend (or a hot and sticky one).
(Wendy Swann - bwl 35 July 2006) |
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