A Wedding in December
It's a high school reunion in the Berkshires, Anita Shreve–style, when seven old friends divided by a tragic accident come together for a wedding. What follows is an engaging soap opera, replete with figurative (and literal) explosions, forbidden kisses, long-held secrets, misplaced blame, crushing guilt, awkward moments, and, of course, terminal illness. Shreve's silky narration flows off the page, although the characters occasionally stumble over bits of dialogue, and the conclusion comes off as anticlimactic. But then, so do real high school reunions.