The Pilot's Wife: Summary and book reviews of The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve, plus links to an excerpt from The Pilot's Wife and a biography of Anita Shreve.

Who can guess what a woman will do when the unthinkable becomes her reality? Until now, Kathryn Lyons's life has been peaceful if unextraordinary: a satisfying job teaching high school in the New England mill town of her childhood; a picture-perfect home by the ocean; a precocious, independent-minded fifteen-year-old daughter; and a happy marriage whose occasional dull passages she attributes to the unavoidable deadening effect of time. As a pilot's wife, Kathryn has learned to expect both intense exhilaration and long periods alone--but nothing has prepared her for the late-night knock that lets her know her husband has died in a crash. As Kathryn struggles with her grief, she descends into a maelstrom of publicity stirred up by the modern hunger for the details of tragedy. Even before the plane is located in waters off the Irish coast, the relentless focus on her husband's life begins to bring a bizarre personal mystery into focus. Could there be any truth to the increasingly disturbing rumors that he had a secret? Fighting the impulse to protect herself and her daughter from the details of the crash and the mystery surrounding it, Kathryn sets out to learn who her husband really was--whatever that knowledge may cost. The search will lead her to shocking revelations, testing both the truth of her marriage and the limits of her ability to face it. From the bestselling author of The Weight of Water, this taut, impassioned novel asks fundamental questions we all have about how well we can really know anyone--even those (or especially those) we love the most. Written with grace and controlled beauty, The Pilot's Wife definitively places Anita Shreve among the ranks of the best novelists writing today.

Media Reviews

Washington Post Book World - Georgia Jones-Davis Gripping...You don't want to stop turning the pages once Kathryn has opened her door.   Orlando Sentinel - Susan Hubbard Compulsively readable....To create both sympathetic characters and an enticing plot is no small feat, but Shreve does it seamlessly.   Houston Chronicle -Mike Snyder An absorbing, inventive tale rendered in fine, original prose.   The San Diego Union-Tribune - Kate Callen Kathryn's emotional quest is masterfully rendered....We go where Shreve leads because the writing is so sure.   The San Francisco Chronicle - Rebecca Radner Highly readable....Shreve is extremely skillful at showing the stages by which someone learns to live with the unthinkable.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Kimberly B
The Pilots Wife
I couldn't put the book down. Shreve writes so descriptively and fluidly that its like watching a movie! I was confused with the very last paragraph though: A lottery ticket on the mantelpiece? Where did that come from? I mean, I understand she...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Miranda
The Pilot's Wife
“SHE HEARD A KNOCKING AND THEN A DOG BARKING” and in that instant Kathryn Lyons life changed to an unexpected struggle between happiness and reality. Anita Shreve’s fictional masterpiece The Pilot’s Wife is an emotional roller coaster filled with...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Whitney Harris
The Pilot's Wife
Anita Shreve’s novel, The Pilot’s Wife, is essentially about a woman, Kathryn Lyons, and how peaceful and perfect her life is until her husband’s plane explodes just off the coast of Ireland. Later in the story she begins to figure out that her...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Jessica
The Pilot's Wife
Once you read The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve you are sure to feel the same as I do. In the early morning hours of 3:24 a.m. Kathryn is awakened only to be told that her husband’s plane has crashed off the coast of Malin Head, Ireland. Now Kathryn...   Read More

Rated of 5 by karen51
page turner
Just finished this book and loved it. For anyone who has ever been betrayed, it certainly challenges the emotions one feels. In the end, I liked the hope... that we can recover even in the face of events we never thought could happen.

Rated of 5 by liezle
A newbie reviews
I'm not usually a fan of Oprah's Book Club, but I'm starting to be a fan Anita Shreve since I read Fortune's Rocks which I got at a used books store. In Pilot's Wife, the subtle building romance between Richard and Katherine is what I found most...   Read More

...26 More Reader Reviews

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