The reader is left to uncover the truth in this labryinth of a tale, a riveting story told within the framework of one reporter's notes and a woman's letters from prison. Everyone believes that Maureen and Harrold English, two successful New York City journalists, have a happy, stable marriage. It's the early '70s and no one discusses or even suspects domestic abuse. But after Maureen suffers another brutal beating, she flees New York with her infant daughter and seeks refuge in a small coastal town in Maine. The weeks pass slowly, and just as Maureen begins to heal physically and emotionally, Harrold finds her, bringing the story to a violent, unforgettable end.
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Thrilling and finely written . . . Ms. Shreve renders the beleaguered woman's voice, and the voices of other townspeople, with the arresting clarity we ask of all good writing."-The New Yorker
"Shreve's prose is clear and compassionate, and her message moving."-The Washington Post Book World
"Superbly rendered . . . both touching and troubling. The box-within-a-box structure moves Shreve's subtle and searing book beyond the contemporary horror genre. It creates a kind of double novel."-Cosmopolitan
About the Author
Anita Shreve is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of The Pilot's Wife (an Oprah Book Club(r) selection), The Weight of Water, Eden Close, and Where or When. In 1998, Shreve won a New England Booksellers Association award for her body of work and an L.L. Winship/ PEN New England award for The Weight of Water, which was also short-listed for Great Britain's Orange Prize. Shreve teaches at Amherst College and lives in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
Product details
- Publisher : Harvest Books (November 11, 1999)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 015600710X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0156007108
- Item Weight : 12 ounces
- Dimensions : 1 x 5.5 x 8 inches
