Andrew, an advertising executive in his mid-30s, returns to his hometown in upstate New York for his mother's funeral. He does not intend to stay in the slow rural backwater he left seventeen years before. But the dreams and memories persist and in the darkened farmhouse he relives that hot, bloody night when Eden Close was blinded - by the same gun that killed her father. The enigmatic Eden had been Andrew's childhood companion. Together the two roamed summer cornfields, smoked their first forbidden cigarettes, skated, fished and fought until the tomboy turned temptress - then their friendship ended. Now, despite warnings, Andrew is drawn again to this lost, blind girl of his youth, drawn to save her from the cruel neglect she has endured for seventeen sightless years without him. But first he must discover the grisly truth about that night...
'Shreve writes with power and passion' DAILY EXPRESS
'Anita Shreve has a knack for wry observation and for capturing the agony of emotion DAILY TELEGRAPH
'EDEN CLOSE is a novel of sensibility. Its insights are keen, its language measured and haunting. In it a sense of loss and rapture is everywhere NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'A first novel that turns rural gothic horrors into a story of fine, high love ... beautifully rendered scenes ... and a climax that will ... put you on the edge of your chair KIRKUS REVIEW
'A novel in which Andrew, an advertising executive, returns to his hometown in upstate New York to attend his mother's funeral. He renews his friendship with a blind girl of his youth and is drawn to save her from the cruel neglect she has endured for 17 sightless years without him.' (Kirkus UK)
Author
About Anita Shreve
Anita Shreve is the author of fifteen best-selling novels which have spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller Lists. The Weight of Water was short listed for the Orange Prize and The Pilot’s Wife was selected by Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Book club’ series. Shreve started her writing career as a journalist and her award-winning short stories and non-fiction have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Cosmopolitan and Esquire. Shreve is married to a man she met when she was 13. She has two children and three stepchildren and lives in Massachusetts.
Anita Shreve was our Author of the Month in February 2012.
