Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2009
320 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Margaret and Patrick have been married just a few months when they set off on what they hope will be a great adventure - a year living in Kenya. Margaret quickly realizes there is a great deal she doesn't know about the complex mores of her new home, and about her own husband.
A British couple invites the newlyweds to join on a climbing expedition to Mount Kenya, and they eagerly agree. But during their harrowing ascent, a horrific accident occurs. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Margaret struggles to understand what happened on the mountain and how these events have transformed her and her marriage, perhaps forever.
"While some of these moments aren't bad, the scant dramatic tension and direct-to-video plot make this a slog." - Publishers Weekly
"[Her] usual pinpoint precision of Shreve's (Testimony) prose is not in evidence here...readers must work to discover the novel's time frame, and accusations of Margaret's complicity ...seem out of proportion..." - Library Journal
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts. Her approimately 20 novels include The Pilot's Wife, The Weight of
Water, Eden Close, Strange Fits of Passion, Where or When, and Resistance.
Anita Shreve began writing fiction while working as a high school teacher after graduating from Tufts University.
Although one of her first published stories, "Past the Island,
Drifting," was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1975, Shreve felt she couldn't
make a living as a fiction writer so she became a journalist. She traveled to
Africa and spent three years in Kenya, writing articles that appeared in
magazines such as Quest, US, and Newsweek. Back in the United
States, she turned to raising her children and writing freelance articles for
magazines. Shreve later expanded two of these ...
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