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The Anniversary

An addictive and dangerously readable literary thriller, longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize

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The Anniversary

By: Stephanie Bishop
Narrated by: Fiona Hampton
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'Stunning' i Paper

'Dangerously readable' Observer

'Electrifying' Sunday Times

Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Patrick is older than J.B., a revered film director and formerly her professor. J.B's art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his.

For days they sail in the sun, with nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits, and Patrick falls off the ship.

J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick - and the truth about their marriage - begins.

'Magnificent' Joanna Cannon

'Compulsive' Financial Times

'I loved it' Megan Hunter Domestic Thrillers Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Thriller & Suspense Fiction Marriage Suspense
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Critic reviews

The Anniversary is a haunting mystery, sophisticated, subtle and subversive. Bishop considers the discipline, scrupulous and otherwise, required to make a marriage, as well as to make art, capturing the longing and the disappointment inherent in the attempt to make one's self known to others. (Susanna Moore, author of IN THE CUT)
The Anniversary is a disquieting, stunning book about marriage, art, power and creativity. (Anna Bonet)
As clever as it is delicious. A masterclass in layered sophistication . . . The Anniversary is a fully-realised literary achievement. From its sensuous sentences to its thrilling genre-craft to its timely cultural provocations. It is a book that could be read under a beach umbrella or in a university classroom (2024 Stella Prize Judges)
The Anniversary is a compulsive yet redemptive book layered with nuances that will have those new to Bishop's work hunting out her backlist. (Susie Mesure)
In The Anniversary Stephanie Bishop expertly and mercilessly builds an atmosphere of intense uncertainty and threat. You won't want to put it down. (Chris Power, author of MOTHERS)
Dangerously readable . . . If only all literary novels were this engaging and this perceptive about human nature (Alexander Larman)
Electrifying (Claire Lowdon)
With a unique style and descriptions so real you can feel the salt-spray drift from the page, The Anniversary draws you in. Addictive and dynamic. (Charlotte Roberts)
The dread that slowly creeps into your bones while reading The Anniversary is difficult to shake off, yet you cannot look away. I revelled in every bit of this astute, compelling, psychological novel. (Virginia Feito, author of MRS MARCH)
The sense of foreboding increases as the narrative progresses and I found it impossible to put down. It's excellent on how a partner's resentment can grow until it explodes as if from nowhere. It's also wonderful on writing itself and how our protagonists both enable and block each other's process. I adored it. (Sara Lawrence)
Nothing in this exquisitely twisted tale is quite what it seems. But though the cool, sharp, disenchanted narrator is not to be trusted, one thing about her is for real - her ability to say things so witty and so pungently true I kept turning down pages to mark them. If I kept a commonplace book I would have filled it with lines from this compelling novel about creativity and its discontents (Lucy Hughes-Hallett, author of THE PIKE)
I very much enjoyed The Anniversary. It put me in mind of Gone Girl and of Fleishman Is in Trouble too. It nails so much about how ruthless a writer of fiction needs to be both in relation to life and material (Polly Samson, author of A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS)
All stars
Most relevant
Lovely writing I am sure.
Great Premise but so slow and detail heavy I lost patience and still do not know what really happened or even why.
Would love to know but it seems like the story is hidden in a drifting stream of consciousness to the point of being drowned.
It is a shame as it was compelling at times - but just like watching a TV on a station which fades in and out, I just gave up as I wanted more story to unfold and less about the protagonist's inner musings.
Could be a fabulous film if anyone can fish about in all those words and find out what actually happened and what led up to it.
Frustrating!

I still do not know what happened ...

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it was an interesting plot which did twist and turn, and you never know quite what was happening until it started to reveal at the end. im ot sure i do know 100% as thats the nature of the story, a subjectove accpunt. the narration was very good.

I enjoyed it although it was a bit meandering

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I had been looking forward to immersing myself in this lengthy novel while undertaking a detailed craft project. However - I found the meandering structure of the book and the style of narration both intensely irritating. Fiona Hampton’s clipped diction and her pronunciation of ‘the’ as ‘tha’ before words commencing with a vowel left me cold - eg ‘tha inside’ ‘tha orange’ .

Meandering

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