Anita Shreve once again brings us the story of woman fenced in by the dictates about women’s place during the Post World II era who comes into her own, drawing on inner strength and character her husband wants to squash. Thoroughly enjoyable. The literary world has lost a star with Ms. Shreve’s death. ( )

Good story. Really enjoyed. Email this reviewKIRKUS REVIEWShreve?s latest takes on natural disasters, public and private.The summer of 1947 was unseasonably hot, leading to a drought that had devastating consequences for the state of Maine. Shreve?s novel tells the story of the Great Fires of Maine from the perspective of Grace, a housewife living near the coast. Grace faces a drought of a different kind, in her marriage. Husband Gene, a surveyor, never talks about the war experiences that left him with inner and outer scars, but ?the other husbands don?t either.? What is unusual, at least compared to how Grace?s neighbor Rosie describes her love life, is how brutal Gene can be in bed. With two children under 2 and another on the way, Grace?s domestic arrangements are increasingly stressed as blistering summer advances. By October, the entire state is a tinderbox; even a dropped cigarette can set a parched lawn ablaze. As wildfires threaten, Gene leaves with a crew of men to dig a fire break. Awakened in the middle of the night, Grace realizes her town is burning. She flees to the seashore with her children and the clothes on her back and spends the night along with Rosie and many others huddled under soaked blankets. After rescue comes, Grace?s baby is stillborn. Now homeless, with the children and her mother in tow, Grace moves into a vacant beach-side mansion which, she thinks, was left to Gene by his late mother, Merle. Except that Gene has been declared missing, and the mansion is not unoccupied: Aidan, an Irish pianist, has been squatting there since the fire disrupted his concert tour. Gene?s absence seems downright salutary. A brief affair with Aidan shows her what Rosie was talking about, and he resumes his tour, promising to return. All the contentedness stalls the novel, until Shreve shakes things up in a way that descends into woman-in-jeopardy territory. The back stories of the main characters are so sketchy that their actions seem unmotivated and arbitrary.Formulaic plot aside, worth reading for the period detail and the evocative prose.

3.5ish stars rounded up. It was a quick read and written in an interesting way - many small segments, snippets of time. I liked hearing about a history of familiar places. It's amazing how different the world was even 70 years ago. ( )

rabck from dvg; set in the late 1940's in a Maine Coastal town, Grace is a housewife with 2 young children and a brute for a husband - but she thinks that's normal. A fire sweeps through the community, destroying hers and her mother's home. Grace manages to keep her children alive by retreating to the beach/surf but loses her baby. Her husband was with a group of men trying to build a firebreak and doesn't come back. At her wits end about what to do, they move in with some of her mother's friends, but when 2yo Clare becomes ill, Grace and Clare recuperate at a clinic - which provided Grace with a job. She also realizes that she can use Gene's deceased mother's home, as it's technically the family's & there becomes a lot more independent. Gene reappears toward the end of the book, returns to mistreating Grace and this time she has to strength to move out. I would have liked to know more about Gene's mother - there's a whole story there too. Why did she hide jewelry in her clothes' seams and hems? Why did she own such fancy dresses and furs? And the grand piano in the turret room -why was that there? ( )

There are some authors that I always know I will enjoy reading, and Anita Shreve has been one of those for me for a long, long time. She has a way of putting her characters into unusual situations and having them react just the way you think a person would. In this case, there is a serious fire that burns out much of Maine (based on an actual event in the 1930s), and a young mother’s life is turned upside down. Amid all this loss, Grace finds herself, and finds a kind of strength of character that she would never have suspected she possessed.

This novel was pure pleasure to read, because Anita Shreve knows how to write in a way that makes you feel you are in this woman’s skin and experiencing her travails right along with her. If you have ever felt trapped by life or imprisoned by a situation you cannot control, you will relate to Grace and feel the pressure she is under. There is little more I can say without giving away some detail of the plot, and that would be to ruin this for other readers.

If you have enjoyed Anita Shreve in the past, you will not be disappointed by this release. It is not my favorite of her works, there are several that could make my short-list of books you cannot miss, but it has that flavor that is uniquely her own. BTW, for those of us who are fans, the house is back.
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