I love reading Anita Shreve—she can tell a story with grace, intelligence, and a mastery of the language, with intricate but clear plotlines, without resorting to hyperbole or far-fetched situations. Shreve is a delight to read and provides absorbing storylines, that seem to vary rather widely—South Africa, Massachusetts in the early twentieth century, and now a setting in the present in Vermont, with characters from our own time. But plot lines are only one attraction—it is Shreve’s nuanced handling of the emotions and fragility at the root of our human structure is the reason I read her novels, and this one is outstanding! A rookie paramedic falls in love with one of his first rescues, and the eighteen years that follow that first rescue are the focus of the book. Peter Webster is the paramedic, and he is deeply devoted to his only daughter, Rowan, who becomes curious about her absent mother, Sheila. While he may be the rescuer of victims of car accidents and heart attacks, he finds himself being rescued by his ex-wife, his daughter, and the entwining net of relationships that keep him from a hard fall.
Oh, this was a good one.