The Pilot's Wife

Shreve, Anita

3.56

98,542 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 0613179757 ISBN 13: 9780613179751

As a pilot�s wife in the New England of her birth, nothing prepared Kathryn Lyons for the late-night knock at the door informing her husband Jack has died in a crash.

Even before the plane is located in the waters off the coast of Ireland, the tragedy becomes the subject of a media frenzy. Could there be any truth to the bizarre, disturbing rumours that Jack Lyons led a secret life? When the plane�s black box is recovered, it pins responsibility for the crash on Jack. To clear his name, Kathryn searches for clues to the hours before the flight. Struggling with her gried, and fighting the urge to protect herself and her precocious daughter from the mystery involving the crash, Kathryn is determined to learn who her husband really was, whaterver that knowledge may cost.

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Review:

With five novels to her credit, including the acclaimed The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve now offers a skilfully crafted exploration of the long reach of tragedy in The Pilot's Wife. News of Jack Lyons's fatal crash sends his wife into shock and emotional numbness:

Kathryn wished she could manage a coma. Instead, it seemed that quite the opposite had happened: She felt herself to be inside of a private weather system, one in which she was continuously tossed and buffeted by bits of news and information, sometimes chilled by thoughts of what lay immediately ahead, thawed by the kindness of others ... frequently drenched by memories that seemed to have no regard for circumstance or place, and then subjected to the nearly intolerable heat of reporters, photographers and curious onlookers. It was a weather system with no logic, she had decided, no pattern, no progression, no form.

The situation becomes even more dire when the plane's black box is recovered, pinning responsibility for the crash on Jack. In an attempt to clear his name, Kathryn searches for any and all clues to the hours before the flight. Yet each discovery forces her to realise that she didn't know her husband of 16 years at all. Shreve's complex and highly convincing treatment of Kathryn's dilemma, coupled with intriguing minor characters and an expertly paced plot, makes The Pilot's Wife really take off. --James Barry

Review:

Sympathetically read by Blair Brown (CHOICE)

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