The Anniversary

The simmering latest from Bishop (The Other Side of the World) explores an unbalanced marriage and a mysterious death. Fourteen years ago, author J.B. Blackwood married her much older former professor, Patrick Heller, now a film director with a cultlike following; his success has put an increasing strain on their relationship. She talks him into taking a cruise from Alaska to Japan to celebrate their anniversary, but after a few boozy days on the water, an unexpected storm seizes their boat, and Patrick falls overboard and drowns. J.B. returns from the vacation alone, grappling with her husband’s sudden death and forced into the limelight as the widow of a famous man. Though J.B.’s star had finally begun to rise before her spouse’s death, thanks to a New Yorker profile and a big prize nomination, Patrick continues to overshadow her (“even in death he had the power to eclipse my own achievements,” she thinks). Among other instances when Patrick exploited their uneven power dynamic, J.B. recalls their secret professor-student relationship and Patrick’s uncredited use of her work for his most successful films. Bishop sustains a breakneck pace, keeping up the suspense with lingering questions about the circumstances of Patrick’s death. The result is beguiling and incisive in equal measure. (July)