The Fortune's Rocks Quartet: Fortune's Rocks, Sea Glass, The Pilot's Wife, Body Surfing

Fortune's Rocks #1-4

by Anita Shreve

This magnificent novel transports readers to the world of a prominent Boston family summering on the New Hampshire coast, and to the social orbit of a spirited young woman who falls into a passionate, illicit affair with an older man, with cataclysmic results.The Fortune Rock's Quartet collects four of Anita Shreve's most beloved novels-Fortune's Rocks, The Pilot's Wife, Sea Glass, and Body Surfing-for the first time. The novels highlight Shreve's ability to illuminate women's lives across different eras and share a delightful they are all set in the same coastal New England home, one that has inspired Shreve for over a decade. Any house with age to it can tell a million stories about the families who have lived there, and Shreve has been quoted as saying, ''You could base an entire life's work on the people who come in and out of a house.'' Fortune's Rocks depicts a spirited young woman at the turn of the 20th century who falls into a passionate, illicit affair with an older man. In Sea Glass, a young couple's new marriage is rocked to the core by the 1929 stock market crash. The Pilot's Wife brings us to the present day, where Kathryn is unprepared her for the late-night knock that lets her know her husband has been killed in a plane crash. Sydney, the heroine of Body Surfing has already been once divorced and once widowed by the age of 29, and finds the fragile existence she has rebuilt for herself threatened when two brothers vie for her affections. "There's something addictive about Shreve's tales," according to USA Today, and this quality is on full display in the critically acclaimed novels of The Fortune Rock's Quartet. No one writes more compellingly than Anita Shreve about marriage, family, the depths of our strength and resolve, and the supreme courage that it takes to love.

Genres: Fiction

1130 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 22, 2010

About the author

Anita Hale Shreve was an American writer, chiefly known for her novels. One of her first published stories, Past the Island, Drifting (published 1975), was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1976.

Reviews

[Trawets · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathryn Lyon is woken in the early hours of the morning to be told her husband, an airline pilot, has died in a crash. Mechanial failure, terroism, pilot error? she is told no, the evidence suggests it was suicide. Anita Shrive's novel follow's Kathryn's journey to discover who and what her husband really was.
My first Anita Shreve book, I really enjoyed it.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize that The Pilot's Wife was part of a quartet until I read an article on Anita Shreve after her death. I reread it then and liked it so much that I went back and started Fortune's Rocks. I believe I also read Body Surfing at one point too. Interesting mix of different stories that share the setting of a beach cottage on the New Hampshire coast.

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compilation of 4 books.
I finished The Pilot's Wife and really enjoyed it; lots of questions right up until the end.
Looking forward to the other 3 books.
They all have a connection to Fortune's Rock in the northeastern US.
Of the 4, 2 were good, 1 was okay and the other one I didn't even finish.
It was well written in that the same house was woven into all the stories, but I guess I just don't get into her style of writing enough.

[Christine F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just reading the first book "Fortune's Rocks" contained in this quartet - whereas I have the book, it seems databases don't recognize the book title on its own outside of being contained in this quartet of stories.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

now this IS a story - full of compassion and heartwarming x

[Cheryl Jane]

Perfect pairing. The house is alive and a place I want to live.

[Kimberly]

I loved this book! The story was very compelling. I found myself gasping at times. I love ANita Shreve storytelling