At the age of twenty-nine, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed. Trying to find her footing again, she has answered an advertisement to tutor the teenage daughter of a well-to-do couple as they spend a sultry summer in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage.
But when the Edwards’ two grown sons, Ben and Jeff, arrive at the beach house, Sydney finds herself caught up in a destructive web of old tensions and bitter divisions. As the brothers vie for her affections, the fragile existence Sydney has rebuilt is threatened.
With the subtle wit, lyrical language, and brilliant insight into real emotion that has led her to be called ‘a supremely elegant anatomist of the human heart’ (The Times), Shreve weaves a story about risk, family, and the supreme courage that it takes to love.
- ‘As usual, Shreve’s powerful storytelling pulls you in like a rip tide’ MARIE CLAIRE
- ‘Relationships in all their guises are Shreve’s thing
- she fascinated by what binds us together and flings us apart . . . Like all Shreve’s novels, BODY SURFING examines not only the creation but the breakdown of numerous relationships in their different forms . . . This is undoubtedly one of Shreve’s finest works yet’ GLAMOUR
- ‘More heart-wrenching from the queen of the emotional rollercoaster’ DAILY MIRROR
- ‘Shreve writes about emotional dramas and she writes about them well . . . [she has] a talent for intense and catastrophic moments . . . If you have to brand something as the perfect beach or comfort read, then this would be it’ EVENING STANDARD
- ‘Because it’s Anita Shreve you know there will be emotional upheavals, shifts of loyalty and painful revelations about the past before the book is over, and so it proves - the Shreve hallmarks are all over this warm, satisfying novel’ THE TIMES
- ‘Shreve stipples her prose with detail, portraying one woman’s sense of dislocation with perspicacity and great compassion’ DAILY MAIL
- ‘Nobody does emotional intensity quite like Anita Shreve, as this beautifully written story of destructive relationships proves’ BELLA
- ‘Intricately crafted . . . Shreve’s depiction of how the tensions that simmer below the surface of this family eventually burst to the surface is gut-wrenching, and - as you would be entitled to expect from this master of the human drama - utterly gripping’ SUNDAY BUSINESS POST
- ‘Shreve evokes the feel and sensation of an exclusive summer beach house and the family that owns it . . . [This book] won’t let you go until you’ve reached the last page’ SUNDAY TRIBUNE
- ‘Shreve’s talent lies in writing very absorbing prose, drawing the reader in . . . perfect holiday reading’ IRISH INDEPENDENT
- ‘“Love is the central drama of all our lives,” says Shreve, who as usual writes like a dream’ SAINSBURY’S MAGAZINE
- ‘Written with her characteristic lightness of touch and usual perceptive characterisation, Anita Shreve’s new book explores the endless complexities of family relationships, the nature of heartache and most importantly of all, the courage needed to love in the face of tough odds’ WATERSTONE’S BOOKS QUARTERLY
- ‘The story drew me along so easily . . . This is the first Anita Shreve book I’ve read - and I’ll definitely come back for more’ WOMAN’S OWN
- ‘Her characters are emotionally complex, and their social status and interaction sharply observed. The storytelling seems leisurely, due to the vivid but condensed descriptions, yet events move quickly, with unexpected plot turns . . . Definitely a book for the sun-lounger’ IRISH EXAMINER
- ‘Elegant, suspenseful and brilliantly depicted’ WOMAN & HOME
Paperback:
£7.99
Published 06/03/2008
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