Book Review - The Pilot's Wife

Me and my friend Alyssa used to share our books. It started one day afternoon when Alyssa came over with a few tea packets, lemon and honey. We enjoyed the afternoon very much discussing about tea, books, Amish woman and Oprah. Alyssa was my new neighbor then and first friend in the new neighborhood.

She is a big fan of Oprah Winfrey and we watched the shows together some days. That is how I was offered some books from Oprah's book club and I chose a few. One among them was 'the pilot's wife' by Anita Shreve. I didn't like the cover of the book, it looked very dull and depressing. But when I started reading it ,I just couldn't sleep without finishing the book. This was a long time ago and I can not remember all the things that caught me in the book. But one thing is sure, it is touching, disturbing and depressing. I kept wondering about marriage and love. Do I know my husband very well?

Story starts when Kathy woke up by a knock on her door at 3:24 AM in the morning. At the door she hears about her Pilot husband Jack's death from the Pilot's union representative, Robert from DC. Even before she could grieve, she comes to know that it was an explosion and Jack was behind it. She could not believe it. Jack has always been a good husband, always gentle and nice and was a good father for Mattie too.

Kathryn tries to remember about her 16 years of married life. She remembers how they got married and the happy moments they had together. Then their lovely daughter Mattie came to their life. She thought it was very much an uneventful married life during the last few years. She never thought the slight distance Jack had towards her was anything personal. She considered it due to work pressure and as human all married couples have their highs and lows. They lived in a beautiful home overlooking the ocean in New England. For her, it was a happy married life.

Investigators pressed her for information related to the explosion and Jack's other connections that she never knew. She was forced to find it herself with the help of notes and phone numbers and the initials that she found from Jack's clothes and books. She is going to London with Robert leaving Mattie with her Grandmother.

Jack was a pilot on Boston-London route. He stayed in London between his flight, sometimes several days, there was nothing unusual about it then for Kathy. In London, she meets with Muire Boland, the person behind Jack's initials on his notes 'M', Jack's second wife and their two children. She learns about Jack's other life, beliefs, his mother and a whole new world. Devastated,finally she goes to the Irish coast where the plane crash occurred and throws her wedding ring to the ocean and returns back to start a new life.

Anita Shreve has done a wonderful work here by unfolding the suspense after the death of Jack. I loved this book,I recommend this very much, but not for reading when you are in a depressing mood. Only when you feel that you can enjoy a good novel that has some genuine characters.