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Anita Shreve (1946–2018)

Author of The Pilot's Wife

32+ Works 41,016 Members 975 Reviews 120 Favorited

About the Author

Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts. After receiving a bachelor's degree in English from Tufts University, she taught high school English for five years before becoming a full-time author. She worked for an English-language magazine in Nairobi and wrote for everything from Cosmopolitan show more magazine to The New York Times. Her nonfiction books included Remaking Motherhood and Women Together, Women Alone. Her novels included Eden Close, Strange Fits of Passion, Where or When, Fortune's Rocks, Rescue, Stella Bain, and The Stars are Fire. Several of her books were made into movies including The Pilot's Wife, Resistance, and The Weight of Water. She died from cancer on March 29, 2018 at the age of 71. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Anita Shreve

The Pilot's Wife (1998) 7,651 copies
Light on Snow (2004) 3,282 copies
The Weight of Water (1997) 3,185 copies
Sea Glass (2002) 2,993 copies
Fortune's Rocks (1999) 2,890 copies
The Last Time They Met (2001) 2,689 copies
A Wedding in December (2005) 2,616 copies
Testimony (2008) 2,442 copies
All He Ever Wanted: A Novel (2003) 2,146 copies
Body Surfing (2007) 2,022 copies
Resistance (1995) 1,340 copies
Eden Close (1989) 1,234 copies
Where or When (1993) 1,229 copies
A Change in Altitude (2009) 1,207 copies
Strange Fits of Passion (1991) 1,181 copies

Associated Works

Ethan Frome (1911) — Foreword, some editions — 9,441 copies
The Weight of Water [2000 film] (2003) — Original novel — 10 copies
Resistance [2003 film] — Original novel — 7 copies
The Pilot's Wife [2002 TV movie] (2003) — Original novel — 4 copies

Tagged

2008 (70) 2009 (82) adultery (194) American (91) American fiction (158) American literature (73) anita shreve (104) audio (75) audiobook (96) book club (90) chick lit (111) contemporary (111) contemporary fiction (275) death (79) ebook (71) family (159) fiction (4,211) general fiction (79) grief (120) historical fiction (340) library (73) literary fiction (75) literature (72) love (100) Maine (98) marriage (246) mystery (155) New England (223) New Hampshire (160) novel (451) Oprah's Book Club (80) own (197) read (523) relationships (242) romance (368) Shreve (85) to-read (1,142) unread (170) women's fiction (74) WWII (74)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Shreve, Anita
Legal name
Shreve, Anita Hale
Birthdate
1946-10-07
Date of death
2018-03-29
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Place of death
Newfields, New Hampshire, USA
Cause of death
breast cancer
Places of residence
Nairobi, Kenya
Longmeadow, Massachusetts, USA
Dedham, Massachusetts, USA
Education
Tufts University (BA|1968)
Dedham High School
Occupations
teacher (English, high school)
journalist
writer
Organizations
Chi Omega
Awards and honors
New England Book Award (Fiction, 1998)
O. Henry Prize (1976)
Agent
William Morris Agency
Short biography
Anita Hale Shreve was an American writer, chiefly known for her novels. One of her first published stories, Past the Island, Drifting (published in 1975), was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1976.

Members

Discussions

Reviews

This book was okay, but could have been SO much better. It was hard to get into because of the way it was written. I think that had the book been told from the eyes of only one narrator, perhaps just Mike, then it would have been better. The potential for a good plot is there, the author just didn't take advantage. Mike and Anna's affair came out of the blue, even though it was integral to the story and what happened to Silas. The cameraman remained a mystery until the end, even tho he too was important to the story. I'm all for giving Anita Shreve a "do-over" for this book and letting her write it again and tell the story better.… (more)
 
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thatnerd | 142 other reviews | Mar 2, 2024 |
Could NOT finish this book. Did not like it. Will try some of her other books...hope it was the book and not the author.
 
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Cathie_Dyer | 57 other reviews | Feb 29, 2024 |
Anita Shreve once again brings us the story of woman fenced in by the dictates about women’s place during the Post World II era who comes into her own, drawing on inner strength and character her husband wants to squash. Thoroughly enjoyable. The literary world has lost a star with Ms. Shreve’s death.
 
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bschweiger | 52 other reviews | Feb 4, 2024 |
Good story. Really enjoyed. Email this reviewKIRKUS REVIEWShreve?s latest takes on natural disasters, public and private.The summer of 1947 was unseasonably hot, leading to a drought that had devastating consequences for the state of Maine. Shreve?s novel tells the story of the Great Fires of Maine from the perspective of Grace, a housewife living near the coast. Grace faces a drought of a different kind, in her marriage. Husband Gene, a surveyor, never talks about the war experiences that left him with inner and outer scars, but ?the other husbands don?t either.? What is unusual, at least compared to how Grace?s neighbor Rosie describes her love life, is how brutal Gene can be in bed. With two children under 2 and another on the way, Grace?s domestic arrangements are increasingly stressed as blistering summer advances. By October, the entire state is a tinderbox; even a dropped cigarette can set a parched lawn ablaze. As wildfires threaten, Gene leaves with a crew of men to dig a fire break. Awakened in the middle of the night, Grace realizes her town is burning. She flees to the seashore with her children and the clothes on her back and spends the night along with Rosie and many others huddled under soaked blankets. After rescue comes, Grace?s baby is stillborn. Now homeless, with the children and her mother in tow, Grace moves into a vacant beach-side mansion which, she thinks, was left to Gene by his late mother, Merle. Except that Gene has been declared missing, and the mansion is not unoccupied: Aidan, an Irish pianist, has been squatting there since the fire disrupted his concert tour. Gene?s absence seems downright salutary. A brief affair with Aidan shows her what Rosie was talking about, and he resumes his tour, promising to return. All the contentedness stalls the novel, until Shreve shakes things up in a way that descends into woman-in-jeopardy territory. The back stories of the main characters are so sketchy that their actions seem unmotivated and arbitrary.Formulaic plot aside, worth reading for the period detail and the evocative prose.… (more)
 
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bentstoker | 52 other reviews | Jan 26, 2024 |

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Statistics

Works
32
Also by
5
Members
41,016
Popularity
#427
Rating
½ 3.5
Reviews
975
ISBNs
813
Languages
17
Favorited
120

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