Body Surfing was published by Little, Brown in 2007. Sydney is twenty-nine and twice widowed — her first husband drowned on their honeymoon, her second died in a car accident — circumstances suspicious enough that she carries them like a mark. She takes a summer job tutoring Julie Edwards, the college-age daughter of a wealthy family at their beach house in New Hampshire. Julie’s older brothers, Jeff and Ben, arrive for the summer, and Sydney finds herself drawn to both — or rather, both are drawn to her, and she must navigate their rivalry.
The novel is compact, almost novella-length for Shreve, and moves with the compressed intensity of a stage play. The beach house is the single setting; the summer is the single season; the triangle is the single plot. Shreve strips away everything extraneous — no subplots about work or politics or the wider world — and focuses entirely on the dynamics of desire within a confined space. The body surfing of the title is literal (Sydney does it beautifully, the brothers watch) and metaphorical: she rides the waves of their attention, maintaining her balance until the undertow pulls someone under.
The twist, when it comes, is characteristically Shreve: domestic, violent, and rooted in the specific psychology of the characters rather than imposed from outside.
Collecting Body Surfing
First edition (Little, Brown, New York, 2007): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $10–$25
- Very good/very good: $5–$12