Testimony: A Novel by Anita Shreve

Testimony by Anita Shreve tells the story of a private school rocked by scandal and the devastating effect just one mistake can have on the people you love.

My Book Review Rating: 5 stars – Shreve never fails to disappoint and I thoroughly enjoyed her latest novel.

I’ve been a big fan of Anita Shreve ever since I got a free copy of Eden Close in a magazine several years ago. She is an excellent storyteller and didn’t disappoint in her latest novel Testimony.

The story here revolves around a private school scandal, involving three teenage boys, a girl, some alcohol and a video camera. The events unfold as we hear from the point of view of a handful of different characters as they recount the events that led up to, and after the unsavory incident and the effect that it had on their lives.

Shreve does a fantastic job of weaving together individual story-lines, told from different perspectives. Some of the characters are being interviewed by a journalist, others are recounting events as for a court room testimony and others are writing a letter or a novel. Shreve takes us back and forth from present day to before the incident and then to the period immediately after, as we learn what really happened on that fateful night.

I was thoroughly engrossed in the story from the first line to the last, and was completely bowled over by the twists and turns along the way.

If you are a Shreve fan then you will love Testimony, and if you’ve yet to discover this amazing author then this is probably a good place for you to start.