Book review: A Change In Altitude

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 10:19

A Change In Altitude by Anita Shreve is published by Little Brown, priced £16.99.

The latest book by award-winning American writer Anita Shreve is a slow-burner, but seeps into your conscience – rather like the environs for its setting, Kenya.

It tells the story of a young American couple – doctor Patrick and his photojournalist wife Margaret – who are invited by a British couple to join them and their Dutch friends on a trip to Mount Kenya.

The stark cultural differences in the different tribes of Kenyans that Margaret and Patrick encounter offer an intriguing strand to the narrative, which is essentially a rediscovery of love and spirit.

Shreve has succinctly captured the essence of difference, of chances taken and of hope, for both Margaret and Patrick and of the landscape surrounding them, which both surprises and horrifies them.

7/10 Review by Denise Bailey