Shreve, Anita

(US, 1947– )

Shreve's fiction is dramatic and involving, dealing with contemporary characters in crisis. Start with the US bestseller, The Pilot's Wife (1998), about the loving wife of an airline pilot whose plane crashes, killing all on board. As investigations into the cause of the crash get underway, it begins to emerge that the pilot led a double life which included another wife and children. Shreve deals here with emotions of loss, betrayal, and rage, with great precision and a complete absence of sentimentality or melodrama. Equally, Strange Fits of Passion (1991) deals with the difficult subject of a battered wife, conjuring powerful sympathies and insights, without ever resorting to cliché. The Weight of Water (1997), beautifully written, and with a gripping narrative, was shortlisted for the 1998 Orange Prize.

Anne Tyler, Jane Smiley, Carol Shields  JR