Product Description

Andrew, an advertising executive in his mid-30s, returns to his hometown in upstate New York for his mother's funeral. He does not intend to stay in the slow rural backwater he left seventeen years before. But the dreams and memories persist and in the darkened farmhouse he relives that hot, bloody night when Eden Close was blinded - by the same gun that killed her father. The enigmatic Eden had been Andrew's childhood companion. Together the two roamed summer cornfields, smoked their first forbidden cigarettes, skated, fished and fought until the tomboy turned temptress - then their friendship ended. Now, despite warnings, Andrew is drawn again to this lost, blind girl of his youth, drawn to save her from the cruel neglect she has endured for seventeen sightless years without him. But first he must discover the grisly truth about that night...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61984 in Books
• Published on: 1994-12-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 265 pages

Review
'Shreve writes with power and passion' DAILY EXPRESS; 'Anita Shreve has a knack for wry observation and for capturing the agony of emotion' DAILY TELEGRAPH; 'EDEN CLOSE is a novel of sensibility. Its insights are keen, its language measured and haunting. In it a sense of loss and rapture is everywhere' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW; 'A first novel that turns rural gothic horrors into a story of fine, high love ... beautifully rendered scenes ... and a climax that will ... put you on the edge of your chair' KIRKUS REVIEW

About the Author
Formerly a journalist (Newsweek, US magazine) and non-fiction writer, Anita Shreve's first novel EDEN CLOSE, published in 1990, introduced a distinctively individual voice to literary fiction. She is the author of ten other novels, all available from Little, Brown and Abacus.

Customer Reviews

A FIRST RATE DEBUT NOVEL...
This, the author's debut novel, is a well crafted, fictional work that keeps the reader turning its pages. The book is premised upon unfinished business in the past that needs closure, before the future can begin anew. Here, Andrew, a divorced man in his mid thirties, returns home to the upstate New York town in which he grew up, in order to attend his mother's funeral and take care of her estate. Being there, in his childhood home, brings back memories of a night, half a lifetime ago, in which his neighbor's home reverberated with the sound of gunfire, forever changing the life of his childhood friend and neighbor, Eden Close.

Adopted by Jim and Edith Close after being left in a box on their doorstep shortly after her birth, Jim lavished love and a great deal of physical affection on Eden. Edith, on the other hand, always remained strangely aloof from this beautiful child whom she seemed to view as an intrusion in their lives. Eden, friends with Andrew while growing up, was blinded in the terrible tragedy which engulfed her home one night and saw Jim Close killed. Withdrawing from the world at large, she remained a virtual recluse in her adoptive mother's home, while Andrew got on with his life, went to college, and left home.

In returning for his mother's funeral, Andrew sets about trying to unravel the mystery that has enshrouded Eden since that terrible night. The author gives the reader glimpses into the past through a series of flashbacks, which show the bittersweet relationship that Andrew and Eden had shared when younger, a bond that to this day had remained unbroken. It is this unspoken bond that prompts Andrew to try and bring Eden out of her reclusive state. It is an attempt that is to have great ramifications for all. The author weaves a seamless tapestry that fully engages the reader. It is a haunting and beautifully rendered story that will leave the reader eagerly awaiting the author's next book.

A FIRST RATE DEBUT NOVEL...
This, the author's debut novel, is a well crafted, fictional work that keeps the reader turning its pages. The book is premised upon unfinished business in the past that needs closure, before the future can begin anew. Here, Andrew, a divorced man in his mid thirties, returns home to the upstate New York town in which he grew up, in order to attend his mother's funeral and take care of her estate. Being there, in his childhood home, brings back memories of a night, half a lifetime ago, in which his neighbor's home reverberated with the sound of gunfire, forever changing the life of his childhood friend and neighbor, Eden Close.

Adopted by Jim and Edith Close after being left in a box on their doorstep shortly after her birth, Jim lavished love and a great deal of physical affection on Eden. Edith, on the other hand, always remained strangely aloof from this beautiful child whom she seemed to view as an intrusion in their lives. Eden, friends with Andrew while growing up, was blinded in the terrible tragedy which engulfed her home one night and saw Jim Close killed. Withdrawing from the world at large, she remained a virtual recluse in her adoptive mother's home, while Andrew got on with his life, went to college, and left home.

In returning for his mother's funeral, Andrew sets about trying to unravel the mystery that has enshrouded Eden since that terrible night. The author gives the reader glimpses into the past through a series of flashbacks, which show the bittersweet relationship that Andrew and Eden had shared when younger, a bond that to this day had remained unbroken. It is this unspoken bond that prompts Andrew to try and bring Eden out of her reclusive state. It is an attempt that is to have great ramifications for all. The author weaves a seamless tapestry that fully engages the reader. It is a haunting and beautifully rendered story that will leave the reader eagerly awaiting the author's next book.

A fantastic novel from a superb & thankfully prolifc author!
From the moment I picked up my first Anita Shreve novel, (as part of my A level reading list,) I was hooked. Here is a breathtakingly talented story teller who can be counted on to keep you guessing: but be warned- her novels can be quite damaging to your social life as you will probably find, like me, that you are unable to put any of them down until all of the mystery has been revealed. I found 'Eden Close' particularly moving and addictive as the sad events that have imprisoned Eden, once a vivacious young girl, are unwound by a ghost from her turbulent past, from whose viewpoint the story is told. I don't think you'll be disappointed by this novel, and if you are an Anita Shreve virgin, this will give you a hunger for more!