A Wedding In December

Description

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. Avery, 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 is a woman who longs to tell a secret she cannot reveal to the others, a secret that would stun them all. Bridget, the mother of a fifteen-year-old boy, has agreed to marry Bill, an old high school lover whom she has recently re-met, despite uncertainties about her health and future. Indeed, it is Bill who passionately wants this wedding and who has brought every one together for an astonishing weekend of revelation and recrimination, forgiveness and redemption. This is Anita Shreve's most ambitious and moving novel to date, probing into human motivation with extraordinary grace and skill.

Anita Shreve is the author of eleven other novels including the international bestsellers The Pilot's Wife, a selection of Oprah's Book Club, and The Weight of Water, shortlisted for the Orange Prize.

'Anita Shreve specialises in the way unresolved past events can erupt into the present, and how tragedy lurks in the most ordinary lives' DAILY MAIL 'Shreve writes cool, lucid, popular fiction and the hugely readable A WEDDING IN DECEMBER is no exception' METRO 'The perfect, weightless read is not always escapist. Some of us like to escape into writing that is thoughtful and sharp, telling a story filled with the moral complexities of so-called "ordinary" life. Come on down, Anita Shreve - warm, wise and utterly absorbing' THE TIMES 'Shreve taps the intrinsic potency of school reunions . . . A WEDDING IN DECEMBER demonstrates the page-turning talent that can draw a tear with ease . . . a model of suspense. Plenty of well-observed detail - especially on what it must be like to go through cancer and chemotherapy - also holds one's attention until the end, and it is an end worth reading' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Yet another insightful dose of domestic drama from the rising queen of women's fiction . . . complex and characterful' DAILY MIRROR 'A complex and compelling novel . . . Shreve's tale is highly ambitious, taking the reader through a labyrinth of emotions. This is a stunning novel - Shreve will no doubt be gracing the bestseller charts once again' SUNDAY LIFE (IRELAND) 'Shreve's genius lies in her ability to chronicle the lives of her characters in a way that exposes their frailties and failings, triumphs and betrayals, but without becoming over sentimentalised. The result is a stunning portrayal of the human condition' WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY 'When seven old school friends reunite at the wedding of former classmates, the champagne turns flat as secrets, death and sadness intrude on the revelry. Enjoyably weepy' GRAZIA 'A WEDDING IN DECEMBER excels in descriptions of nature - of New England basking in the sun, and then shrouded in snow - and is also good at desire and regret. It's quite an accomplished weepie' DAILY TELEGRAPH '[A] gently unwinding novel . . . It's a leisurely, reflective read delivered with skill and great understanding of humanity. Ultimately, it's a lesson on how the past events, if they are not attended to when they first surface, can return in the future causing endless woes' SUNDAY TRIBUNE