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Shreve consistently delivers well-conceived novels, drawing from her understanding of character and the all too human flaws that inhabit each of us. The canvas for this novel is Africa in the late 1970s, Patrick a doctor, Margaret wielding her camera, taking in the variety of the country. Patrick absorbed in his research, Margaret is left to her own resources, by chance- and a broken-down vehicle- stumbling on an English expatriate couple, Arthur and Diana, who offer the newlyweds a charming cottage on their property. When the more sophisticated Brits announce a planned trek up Mt. Kenya, Margaret experiences some trepidation, but is soothed by Patrick’s confidence. Tragically, the adventure ends in a shocking accident that changes all their lives.

Mischance, conflict, the emotional shifts of relationships: this is familiar territory for this author, who builds the first part of the novel with a sense of expectation and a frisson of danger. The signs are ominous, any number of problems poised to derail such a mission, serious physical issues that result from the changes in altitude while climbing the mountain. Unfortunately, it is the unknown that proves the undoing of the climbers, the small emotional disturbances that remain etched in the mind, the doubts and resentments that can’t be dislodged by time.

Struggling to keep their marriage intact after the accident, Patrick and Margaret withdraw from conflict, each seeking resolution through time and concentrated effort. But the doubt has been planted, a subtle shift in the foundations of the marriage. Margaret throws herself into her photography, redefining her identity in this time and place, her work a source of income, validation and pride. But everything since the accident registers as anticlimactic, the great drama followed by a series of aftershocks. While Margaret explores Africa in all its beauty and complexity, her marriage continues to totter. How Margaret deals with her marriage, her place in the world and her perceived part in a tragedy drives this story, whether it is possible to survive such blows or if grievous faults are impossible to mend, even with the best of resolutions. A young married woman caught in a faraway place and sideswiped by fate, Margaret absorbs the beauty and depth of the continent, her lesson: “All losses are the same loss. Each has encompassed the others.” Luan Gaines/2009.