You Are the Love of My Life
A Novel
17 September 2013
Description
“Spare, elegant and absolutely riveting.” —People
It’s 1973 and the Watergate scandal is on everyone’s lips. Lucy Painter, a children’s book illustrator and single mother of two, leaves New York and the married father of her children to return to Washington, DC, to the neighborhood where she grew up and the house where her father committed suicide. Lucy hopes for a fresh start, but her life is full of secrets: her children know nothing of her father’s death or the identity of their own father. As new neighbors enter their insular lives, her family’s safety and stability become threatened. Beautifully told, You Are the Love of My Life is a story of how shame leads to secrets, secrets to lies, and how lies stand in the way of human connection.
Reviews
"Graceful moments of connection nestled within tales of discord and deception are treasures [in Shreve’s work]…[The novel’s] examinations of family and community, with their dual capacity to hurt and to heal, are subtly convincing." — Washington Post
"The high price of a truth concealed is at the center of this remarkable, ultimately hopeful novel. Susan Shreve reveals her characters and their lives with empathy, wisdom, and, best of all, not a whiff of condescension." — Ron Rash, New York Times best-selling author of Serena
"The corrosive power of family secrets is at the heart of this gripping tale––a beautifully written page-turner that kept me in its thrall until the very end." — Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance
"You Are the Love of My Life takes place in a cozy little neighborhood in Washington, where every family tries to conceal not-so-cozy secrets under tattered falsehoods. It’s a memorable study of how lies can enslave people and truth set them free." — Edith Pearlman
"I couldn’t put this book down! From its opening pages, which hint at mysteries and complexities of the human heart, right until the final pages when Susan Richards Shreve reveals her characters’ secrets and disappointments and hopes, I found You Are the Love of My Life completely irresistible." — Ann Hood
"Susan Shreve is a terrific storyteller who always brings her characters to vivid, sympathetic life. You are the Love of My Life is my favorite of her books." — Hilma Wolitzer
"Prolific and perceptive, Shreve…handles complex themes of identity, loyalty, privacy, and commitment with finesse, delicacy, and insight." — Booklist (starred review)
Also By: Susan Richards Shreve 
More News Tomorrow: A Novel
Paperback, 2020
“A well-tuned mandolin of a gothic adventure.” —Washington Post
More News Tomorrow: A Novel
E Book, 2019
“A well-tuned mandolin of a gothic adventure.” —Washington Post
