#8 Testimony - Anita Shreve

I just finished this one this afternoon and all I can say it.. wow. I loved it. Anita Shreve is the master of "real life drama." Her books are always so well written and so touching. If you have not read any of her work, please, stop what you are doing and go to the bookstore now. You will not regret it.

Testimony takes place in a sleepy little town in Vermont, home to a prestigious private school. When a sex scandal involving 5 students erupts, the entire town is in shock. To be honest, the most shocking part of the book is not the sex tape fiasco, but the events leading up to. You can watch the whole disaster take shape, like dominos crashing into each other, each seemingly small event causing a bigger one.

One thing I love about Anita Shreve is her ability to juggle different narratives. Testimony is well, a testimony to that fact. In this book, she takes you into the mind of each main character as well as others, like the lunch lady, the newspaper reporter and the police cheif. Those voices really provide a fresh look at the story.

So, all in all, I loved it! You should read it.. or maybe give it to a book lover for christmas? It's relatively new, so they may not have read it yet!