The Pilot's Wife

This is a beautifully written novel about a happily married woman, Kathryn Lyons, whose husband, Jack, is an airlines pilot. They have a teenage daughter named Mattie. They live in her lovely childhood home in Ely, New Hampshire. For sixteen years life has been good. Then her husband goes down with his plane, just ten miles off the coast of Ireland, and ever so slowly the very fabric of their life together unravels. The media frenzy surrounding the explosion of the plane that her husband was piloting, brings to light the plain fact that her husband had been, unbeknownst to her, leading a double life, a life that had not included her or their daughter, but had, most emphatically, excluded them. This is a story of Kathryn's navigation of the emotional roller coaster that was to become her life, as she is thrust into a maelstrom of grief and disbelief, as she struggles to reconcile her memory of the man she thought she knew, with the reality of who he now appeared to have been. This is a remarkable book, written in clean spare prose, that underscores some of the very emotion laden issues with which it grapples. At times infinitely sad and poignant, it is a story of betrayal and splintered memories. A very absorbing, skillfully told tale of adultery that will hold the reader in its thrall.

I loved this book - I thought the author did a great job of combining both suspense and emotion to make a book that I literally could not put down until it was finished. This book has something for everyone - a very human side but also a very mysterious side. I have not read any other Anita Shreve books but I can promise you I will - the Pilot's Wife has sold me!!!

"The Pilot's Wife" was a haunting, yet realistic tale. I usually read at night, yet I found it hard to read this particular book right before going to sleep. The book seemed slow going at first, but in the end, your patience will be awarded. I will admit that the story line was somewhat disturbing, yet in a good way. Can you ever really know you know someone? So many times, it seems that couples enter into relationships expecting their passion to one day subside. This idea has been accepted as normal in today's society. Yet, Kathryn, the main character learns that allowing physical, emotional and intellectual intimacy to fade in her marriage was a grave mistake. I am currently engaged and, if anything, I learned from the book the value of honesty, trust, openess and, overall, reality. There are no fairy tale marriages or relationships. However, accepting this fact and living in the light of the truth will free your soul. In the end, Katherine learned about her mistakes, as well as her husband's, and we can all learn through this awesome novel about the realities of love and loss.

This is one of those rare books that grabs you from the first chapter and won't let go until the end. I felt as if I became the characters and experienced their pain, shock, guilt, anger. Shreve does an excellent job layering the information related to the plot and the characters, so that by the end of the book you feel as if you have lived a lifetime from the book's first to the last page. I am a survivor of a tragedy and the way the characters experienced their grief was so true I felt as if I were looking at myself again as I dealt with an unexpected death. I am now a big fan of Anita Shreve and look forward to reading her other books.

A remarkable read! Having just lived through the end of my 27 year marriage (precipitated by my learning of my husband's 3 year affair), I was astonished by how perfectly Shreve captured the feelings of dislocation, numbness and disbelief one feels in the wake of intimate betrayal. I couldn't put the book down.