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. Harrison, 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 and still single, longs to tell a secret she cannot reveal. Bridget, the mother of a fifteen-year-old boy, has agreed to marry Bill, an old high-school lover, despite undertainties about her health and future.

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.

A 50p bargain from the Cats' Protection League shop.

I much preferred this to the only other Anita Shreve book I've read - looking back at that review, I think it's because I found (most of) the characters in this novel much more likeable. There are hints that even Jerry - the least sympathetic - has a softer side that isn't revealed to us in full. I found the references to 9/11 a little jarring; I felt they date the book too specifically, and although I can see it mirrors Agnes's story about Halifax, I didn't particularly enjoy that either.

There are some interesting points to ponder here.

19 June 2008
Passed on to lindyb28.