Stella Bain - Book Review

Stella Bain is a novel by one of my all-time favorite authors, Anita Shreve (pictured above).  The first book I read by her was The Pilot's Wife back when it was featured on Oprah's Book Club.  Since then I've read every book by Shreve, and I actively look for the next one to arrive on the shelves.  

Stella Bain is Shreve's most recent work, and I requested it from Santa.  Fortunately, he read my list and got it for me, and I finished it today.  

This novel is set during WWI.  It begins in a field hospital in France where the title character is working as a nurse.  She is wearing a British nurse's uniform, and she has an American accent.  The clincher is, she doesn't know who she is or where she came from.  She thinks her name is Stella Bain, and she feels a pressing need to get herself to the Admiralty in London, but she doesn't know why.  The story is about her search for her memory and her attempts to deal with what she learns about her past.  

I enjoyed this book.  It was a quick and easy read, but one of the things I like about Shreve's books is that they are not predictable.  As the clues were presented and the mystery unfolded, much of it was surprising.  

Another thing I like about Shreve's works is that they don't all have happy endings.  They feel more like real life in that there are bad/sad things that happen that have profound effects on the characters.  Sometimes those effects are negative.

Shreve does a lot of background research as she writes her books so that they are accurate historically and geographically.  This even includes traveling to other parts of the world if that is where the story is set.   Many of her books are set along the East Coast - she grew up and lives in the Boston area. She worked as an English teacher for a number of years and has worked as a journalist as well. Also, many of her stories are based, at least partly, on true events.

Anita Shreve has a website which includes biographical info as well as information about her books:  Anita Shreve  Here is a list of her books:

Eden Close

Strange Fits of Passion

Where or When

Resistance

The Weight of Water * (also movie)

The Pilot's Wife * (also movie)

Fortune's Rocks

The Last Time They Met

Sea Glass

All He Ever Wanted

 Light on Snow

A Wedding in December

Body Surfing

Testimony

A Change in Altitude

Rescue

Happy Reading!

:)Amy