Anita Shreve Books in Order (Updated 2026-02-09)

Anita Shreve’s novels are standalones, with one notable exception: four of them quietly share the same New England coastal house at different points in time. That shared setting can make people assume there’s a strict series, there isn’t, but it does create two sensible “orders,” depending on how you like to read.

If you want the least complicated approach, read everything by first publication. If you specifically want the “coastal house” books to flow by time period, use the in-world order for that set.

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Read this first (choose your approach)

If you hate missing references: follow publication order for the house books.
If you want the house’s timeline to progress: use the house chronological order instead.
If you’re reading beyond the house books: everything else is simple, just go by publication year.

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The Coastal House novels (same setting, different decades)

Publication order (best for first-time readers)

1. The Pilot’s Wife (1998): A sudden tragedy forces a widow to question how well she knew her marriage, and what was kept from her.
2. Fortune’s Rocks (1999): A coming-of-age summer turns dangerous when a young woman’s desire collides with adult power and consequence.
3. Sea Glass (2002): A family’s hard-earned stability is tested as money, class, and history wash back in like a tide.
4. Body Surfing (2007): A brief coastal stay becomes a turning point, as grief and attraction push a woman toward an uncertain next life.

House chronological order (best if you want a time-flow)

1. Fortune’s Rocks: The house in its earliest era, where one summer reshapes multiple lives.
2. Sea Glass: The house in a later generation, with survival and rebuilding at the center.
3. The Pilot’s Wife: The house as a refuge while private truths surface.
4. Body Surfing: The house as a crossroads, where the past is felt more than explained.

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Full fiction bibliography in publication order

These are not sequels to one another. Each line below is written fresh for this guide.

1. Past the Island, Drifting (1975): A collection that watches ordinary lives tilt off balance in quiet, decisive ways.
2. Eden Close (1989): A woman returns to her hometown and finds that old friendships still have teeth.
3. Strange Fits of Passion (1991): Desire and self-deception entwine as characters chase love that doesn’t behave politely.
4. Where or When (1993): A relationship story shaped by memory, misreading, and the costs of wanting more.
5. Resistance (1995): A wartime romance tests loyalty when history makes private choices public.
6. The Weight of Water (1997): A modern couple’s fractures echo a long-ago crime, linking obsession to inheritance.
7. The Pilot’s Wife (1998): Loss opens the door to the truths a marriage can keep hidden.
8. Fortune’s Rocks (1999): A summer of awakening becomes a lifelong scar.
9. The Last Time They Met (2001): A love affair is traced backward, from ending to beginning, to show what was always missing.
10. Sea Glass (2002): Survival and pride collide as a family tries to hold onto a fragile foothold.
11. All He Ever Wanted (2003): A man’s certainty about what he deserves becomes the very thing that undoes him.
12. Light on Snow (2004): A family built on good intentions faces what happens when a stranger disrupts the story they tell themselves.
13. A Wedding in December (2005): Old friends reunite for a celebration and discover how sharply life has diverged.
14. Body Surfing (2007): A short visit becomes an emotional hinge between who someone was and who they might become.
15. Testimony (2008): A legal case exposes private damage, and the truth becomes harder than any verdict.
16. A Change in Altitude (2009): A marriage is examined through travel, aftermath, and the slow drift of unmet needs.
17. Rescue (2010): A firefighter’s heroic identity is challenged when family love turns into dependency.
18. Stella Bain (2013): An amnesiac woman rebuilds herself across borders while the past fights to be remembered.
19. The Stars Are Fire (2017): After disaster, a woman discovers that rebuilding a life can begin with choosing herself.

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Nonfiction (confirmed publications)

These are separate from the novels and can be read anytime.

1. Remaking Motherhood (1987): A look at how work, family, and expectations reshape what parenting becomes in practice.
2. Women Together, Women Alone (1989): An exploration of women’s organizing and the long after-effects of collective social movements.

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If you want one “best” reading route

• Start with The Weight of Water if you want a darker, layered mystery structure.
• Start with The Pilot’s Wife if you want an accessible, emotionally immediate suspense turn.
• Then read the coastal house set in publication order, and continue forward through the remaining novels.

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Questions readers usually ask

Do any of these books require strict order?
No, except the coastal-house set, where order mainly affects how much you notice the shared place and its echoes.

Will I spoil anything by reading a later book first?
Only small references tied to the house books. The rest are fully separate.

Is there a “chronological order” for everything?
Not in a meaningful way. The only useful timeline-based order is for the coastal-house novels.