Anita Shreve seems to get a lot of stick for being too commercial but that’s exactly what I like about her! I don’t even read the back of the books when a new one comes out anymore. I know that whatever she has written, I will enjoy. So I just grab that book off the shelf and make sure I have an afternoon free of boring chores where I can settle down with a pot of tea and a selection of dark chocolates and treat myself.
In Body Surfing, Sydney is only 29 but already once divorced and once widowed. She is spending the summer tutoring the teenage daughter of a wealthy couple at their gorgeous-sounding oceanfront cottage in New Hampshire.
This might not sound particularly captivating – Anita Shreve’s books can be a bit slow-burning – but I quite like that gentle style of introduction. And anyway, in this case you only have to wait until page 11, when the teenage pupil’s spunky elder brother – I’m sorry, brothers! – show up wearing nothing but faded swimming trunks, to know there is greater excitement afoot.
Jeff is the green-eyed academic and Ben the brown-eyed real estate agent. Both are quite muscley and the apple of their overbearing mother’s eye, which does not bode terribly well for Sydney. Still, she can hold her own when it comes to bodysurfing with the buff brothers. The question is, which one is going to take Sydney for the greatest ride?
If you like books that take a close-up look at family dynamics, this will definitely be your cup of tea and box of chocolates.
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