Not quite as in depth as some of her other novels, probably just because there are a lot of characters to deal with. Seven old college friend reunite for a wedding and old wounds, secrets and unresolved tensions come to the fore. It’s a good read but not one of her best.

Synopsis

At an inn in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, seven former schoolmates gather for a wedding. Nora, the owner of the inn, has recently had to reinvent her life following the death of her husband. Avery, who still hears echoes from a horrific event at Kidd Academy twenty-six years ago, has made a life for himself in Toronto with his wife and two sons. Agnes, now a history teacher at Kidd is a woman who longs to tell a secret she cannot reveal to the others, a secret that would stun them all. Bridget, the mother of a fifteen-year-old boy, has agreed to marry Bill, an old high school lover whom she has recently remet, despite uncertainties about her health and future. Indeed, it is Bill who passionately wants this wedding and who has brought everyone together for an astonishing weekend of revelation and recrimination, forgiveness and redemption.

Reviews

‘Anita Shreve specialises in the way unresolved past events can erupt into the present, and how tragedy lurks in the most ordinary lives’ DAILY MAIL

‘Warm, wise and utterly absorbing’ THE TIMES

‘Yet another insightful dose of domestic drama from the rising queen of women’s fiction . . . complex and characterful’ DAILY MIRROR

About the Author

Anita Shreve is the author of fifteen best-selling novels which have spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller Lists. The Weight of Water was short listed for the Orange Prize and The Pilot’s Wife was selected by Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Book club’ series.  Shreve started her writing career as a journalist and her award-winning short stories and non-fiction have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Cosmopolitan and Esquire.  Shreve is married to a man she met when she was 13.  She has two children and three stepchildren and lives in Massachusetts.   Anita Shreve was our Author of the Month in February 2012.   Author photo © Deborah Feingold More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation