Up the Creek Book Club

The Last Time They Met

by Anita Shreve

August 2002

Synopsis

"A man and a woman sustain a life-long passionate relationship even though they have been together only three times.

At a literary festival in Toronto, Linda Fallon encounters the man who was once at the center of her life: Thomas Janes, the famous poet. Since last seeing him, she has married, given birth, and been widowed. Thomas' appearance rocks Linda, raises questions she had long abandoned, and inspires new dreams.

The Last Time They Met moves backward to explore Linda's life years earlier, at age 26, when an affair with Thomas shattered her life, and at age 17, when they first met.

In this mesmerizing novel, Anita Shreve, author of the international bestseller The Pilot's Wife, examines the resilience of emotion and the extraordinary repercussions a single choice, even a single word, can have over a lifetime." (Publisher)

Reviews

• "...a fluid weave of past and present, subtly mounting suspense, an unabashed insistence on the primacy of love." (Newsday)
  
• "...a mystery, and one so astonishingly well-constructed that when you're finished you'll want to reread it at once." (People)
  
• "Shreve's cleverly designed act of prestidigitation is dazzling." (USA Today)
  

Book Club Rating and Comments

Everyone seemed to like this book, and considered it Anita Shreve's best book yet. The best thing about this book was the surprize ending. Some want to reread it to see if they can pick up the clues to the ending. This book is highly recommended.

If you or your book club has read this book and would like to share your comments, please email us at upthecreekbc@yahoo.com.

Other Books by Anita Shreve

• 'Eden Close'
• 'Fortune's Rocks'
• 'The Pilot's Wife'
• 'Resistance'
• 'Sea Glass'
• 'Strange Fits of Passion'
• 'Weight of Water' (See June 1998)
• 'Where or When'