I found this book was okay but did not love it. I found it a bit hard getting into. It was not like the usual thrillers I read, so I did struggle with it a little and found it hard to get into.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC by Stephanie Bishop. The Anniversary is about a marriage and the idea that you just may not know quite everything about your spouse. When a couple goes on a cruise, and the husband falls overboard, the wife is left alone and truths about her marriage, that she didn’t see beforehand, come to the surface. While this is the premise of the storyline, there is a lot left out of my review. The writing flows and I think you will find this book enjoyable if you like stories with a psychological undercurrent.

In The Anniversary we meet a woman novelist who is celebrating her wedding anniversary on a cruise, where an event triggers the truths about her past and her marriage.

The book is narrated in first person. And as the plot unfolded, the main character tended to divert to thoughts of her own or recallings of the past in long paragraphs, so the story does not have a comfortable flow. It's also worth noting that the text lacks speech marks.

I did not enjoy it like I thought I would when I requested it. It probably didn't help that I read it when a lot of things were going on in my life at the moment, and instead of distracting me, the book seemed dragging.

Thank you, NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, for this ARC!

Note for NetGalley and the publisher: the file is damaged. The screen froze every time I woke up my Kindle and the only way around was to restart the device. It also didn't save my progress properly.

An interesting plot but I did get bogged down with some of the descriptive writing style.
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

“The Anniversary” by Stephanie Bishop is a novel that delves deep into the complexities of relationships, the blurred lines between reality and fiction, and the intricate web of emotions that tie us to our past and our art. At its core, the book revolves around J.B. Blackwood, a successful novelist, and her husband Patrick, a renowned film director and cult figure. The couple embarks on a cruise to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but tragedy strikes when Patrick falls overboard during a storm, leaving J.B. alone to grapple with the truth about their marriage and the mysteries surrounding his disappearance. Bishop’s writing is exquisite, drawing readers into a narrative that blurs the lines between memory, perception, and storytelling. The novel is not a traditional thriller but rather a psychological exploration of a woman’s unraveling psyche. The first-person narrative offers a glimpse into J.B.’s mind as she pieces together the events leading up to Patrick’s fall and reflects on their complex relationship.

The portrayal of marriage, power dynamics, and the impact of success on a partnership is a central theme in the book. As J.B. navigates her memories and emotions, readers are presented with a layered and multi-dimensional view of the couple’s life together. The book raises questions about the sacrifices we make for our partners, the boundaries between personal and professional aspirations, and the inevitable changes that time brings to even the most intense relationships. However, “The Anniversary” may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The nonlinear narrative, frequent shifts in time, and the introspective nature of the protagonist’s thoughts can make the pacing feel slow at times. Some readers might find it frustrating to be kept in the dark about certain elements of the story or to grapple with an unreliable narrator.

While not a traditional thriller, “The Anniversary” is a thought-provoking and evocative exploration of human emotions, relationships, and the intricate ways our past shapes our present. Stephanie Bishop’s intricate prose and keen psychological insights make this novel a compelling read for those who appreciate a deep dive into the human psyche and the intricacies of love and loss.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me this Advanced Readers Copy of The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop!

The Anniversary is the fourth novel by award-winning Australian author, Stephanie Bishop. After a decade and a half of writing, Lucie Blackwood is about to win a prestigious literary award. But, as she and her husband of fourteen years, Patrick Heller celebrate their anniversary with a cruise just before the award ceremony, tragedy strikes: Patrick, thoroughly drunk, falls overboard during a storm in Russian waters just north of Japan.

In the aftermath, numb with grief, she encounters quite a few people remarkably devoid of empathy, and one or two who care, before her agent rescues her. In quick succession she travels to New York City, London and Sydney.

Lucie, whose name the reader doesn’t learn until halfway through, might be an unreliable narrator: “…too often I doubt my own version of events. There are things I did not wholly remember, but which I am sure did happen – there is an outline of them in my head, but the content is missing. There are things I am sure I once remembered differently to how I recall them now.” Or maybe she’s just dishonest by omission early in her narrative.

Is her graphic description of sex with Patrick before his death calculated, meant to distract the investigating officer in Sapporo? For a freshly widowed woman, she certainly makes some strange choices around attending an awards night, a party, consenting to a phone interview, a TV appearance and several book promotion events, and her publicists seem more interested in book promotion than the welfare of their grieving author.

It’s difficult to find any appealing characters in this tale: Patrick seems to have been a controlling figure sculpting Lucie to his own purposes: “He seemed, to me, to have all the knowledge that I wanted for myself, that I needed. He knew what books I should read and what places I should visit, the films I should watch. He prided himself on giving me experiences, he took pleasure in this.”

The story inches along with numerous lengthy, often deeply analytical, introspective digressions that perhaps add mood or background but might frustrate the impatient reader wanting the promised “propulsive page-turner” of the blurb. For most of the book, the only mysteries the reader will really want solved are the disappearance of Lucie’s mother, only vaguely hinted at, and what terrible thing Patrick said to Lucie before he went overboard, finally revealed to patient readers at the 85% mark.

Bishop does give the reader some beautiful prose, but chooses to omit quote marks for speech, an increasingly popular trend that many readers find irritating for the ambiguity it causes. A psychological thriller this is not, but it may appeal to those who enjoy high-brow literary fiction and, with its emphatic author perspective, to authors. Plenty of frills but no thrills.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Grove Atlantic.

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop
Publisher Grove Atlantic, Grove Press, Black Cat
Release Date July 18, 2023

Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Pace: 3/5
Overall Enjoyment: 3/4


At first, I started to enjoy the writings and how the author was using a first person narrative to tell the story. However as time went on, it really became something that was incomprehensible. It is a very overly descriptive fiction turned non fiction turned fiction again. I was completely confused for awhile. I still do not really know if she pushed her husband off of the cruise ship or during his drunkenness, he fell. The story was obliterated while having so many different intellectual views, for me anyway. There were times I was sucked in to the story once I figured out the writing style but just as soon as I became used to it, it seemed to change. I would not classify this as a thriller at all.

3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

This is a book I should have skipped. It's not a thriller. It's an overwrought, overly descriptive literary-style fiction novel.

No quotation marks. Excessive description of things that have no bearing on the thin plot.

At the beginning, I was really interested. A couple embarks on a cruise and he falls overboard--or was he pushed? But from there it just jumps around in time so we learn about how they got together and then jumps forward and backward and by the time I got to the end I felt like I, not Lucie, should have won a prize for getting through this exhausting book.

If you like introspection and meanderingly descriptive prose, you might like it. Not for me at all.

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop was a very sad story mostly told in first person by the protagonist, who was his wife and had been accused of his murder. They were on a vacation, a cruise. They would end up in Japan and then fly to New York. They enjoyed much of it but they argued. He was drunk. It was on the deck. Did he fall or did she push him? I never really knew. She was pregnant after years of marriage, that was certain. Was she imagining it or was it real? What about their marriage. Was that real? I never knew. Very strange book.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Anniversary by Grove Atlantic, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #GroveAtlantic #StephanieBishop #TheAnniversary

It rounded up to 3.5 stars...

I am so thankful to Tantor Audio, a division of Recorded Books media, Stephanie Bishop, NetGalley, and Libro.fm for granting me advanced audiobook access to this twisty thriller before it hits shelves on July 18, 2023.

Our lead character is having some relationship issues with her husband and her stepson. As a means to resolve these issues, the couple goes on a cruise, exploring the Japanese coastal regions as soaking up on their reprieve. When her husband goes missing and is found dead, she doesn't know what to think and then is thrown back into her literary publishing world, expected to assume the normal.

Years down the line, however, she is viewed negatively with suspicion for likely having something to do with her husband's demise, which opens up a whole jar of worms into her private intimate life that she wished to remain sealed.

In Stephanie Bishop's THE ANNIVERSARY, the ultimate anniversary dream voyage goes horribly wrong when renowned literary luminary husband Patrick goes overboard and his wife JB, a rising literary star is left alone with her memories, questions, and explanations of what went wrong and why, for her now solitary sail as well as for the entire life they made and shared with one another. Their complicated marriage is suddenly under intense scrutiny, from JB as well as all the others figuring out what really happened on that voyage. Once I got used to the unusual lack of punctuation to indicate speech, I was captivated by what a creative person can do with her real life and what she makes up for her fiction. I received a copy of this novel and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop is a very unusual but intriguing novel.

The writing style takes a little while to become accustomed to as it is a type of stream of consciousness where there a very very long sentences that follow the thoughts, feelings and actions of the protagonist, novelist J. B. Blackwood, but also interspersed with short, sharp words and sentences which pop up to interrupt the flow. There is only one point of view and at times J.B.’s thoughts don’t follow a logical pattern but jump all over the place - which, to be honest is often how the brain (well mine anyway) can work. Given this writing style it was at times difficult to pick up what was actually happening but once I became used to I felt like I was being taken for a ride inside J.B.’s mind. Interesting strategy for the unfolding of the story.

Having worked out the writing style the story slowly unfolds and we find J.B off on a cruise for their wedding anniversary. J.B. met Patrick, twenty years older than her, when he was her lecturer but also a film director and producer. Their relationship appeared to be one of collaboration and mutual support but this seemed to change as J.B. became a successful novelist.

The publisher’s blurb is an excellent introduction:

“Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, film director, and cult figure, Patrick is much older than J.B.. When they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. But now his success is starting to wane and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his.
For days they sail in the sun, nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits and Patrick falls from the ship. J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick – and the truth about their marriage – begins.”

An interesting exploration of relationships - not just between student and teachers, but mother and daughters and siblings with the issue of perspective being devolved into, particularly as we are only given one perspective.

How a novelist relates to their characters and story is also explored as is that of viewing life as a cinematic experience. A lot to think about there!

An interesting novel - not an easy read but one that left me with a lot of issues to think about.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from Grove Atlantic via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#TheAnniversary #NetGalley

Patrick was the important one when JB married him but now she's been nominated for a literary prize. Their cruise turns disastrous when Patrick goes overboard, prompting JB to at long last reflect on their relationship. She, btw, continues along to the various events surrounding her achievement-would Patrick have done the same? This is an odd book in some ways because it blends genres and keeps you guessing if you have patience to read through all of JB's thoughts. Part of the plot- the younger wife who has been subjugated and then comes into her own- might seem familiar but Bishop puts a fresh spin on it. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Difficult to review without spoilers but a good read.

The Anniversary is intriguing, complex and overwhelming.

I'll start with overwhelming. The writing style took me ages to get into as I needed to revise my expectations (more centred around the mystery and circumstances that led to Patrick (J.B's husband) disappearing. For the first 50%, I felt like a headless chook trying to decipher if it was J.B. or Lucie (the protagonist's personal name), as the lines between fiction and non-fiction are blurred. However, the emotional response of numbness, wanting to escape and dissociativeness shone through.

When I hit the 60% mark, the book had my full attention as it was intriguing and complex. However, I've realised that this book is targeted at readers who appreciate the art of writing and love unreliable narration. I would advise readers to adjust their expectations as this story is about a woman spiralling about her choices and decisions before the anniversary cruise. In conclusion, it is a well-written psychological thriller with a hit-and-miss in keeping the readers wholly engaged.

Thank you, NetGalley & Grove Atlantic, for providing this e-ARC. This honest review is left voluntarily.

A mixed bag of good and bad qualities, this story is at time complex and meandering and slow, which will turn off some readers. I can see the talent here, and the story definitely has good qualities. It just wasn't executed in a compelling way.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

"For fans of Lisa Halliday and Susan Choi, The Anniversary is a simmering page-turner about an ascendant writer, the unresolved death of her husband, and what it takes to emerge on her own. Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, film director, and cult figure, Patrick is much older than J.B.. When they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. But now his success is starting to wane and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his. For days they sail in the sun, nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits and Patrick falls from the ship. J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick - and the truth about their marriage - begins. Propulsive and fiercely intelligent, The Anniversary is exquisitely written with a swift and addictive plot. It's a novel that asks: how legible, in the mind of the writer, is the line between reality and plot? How do we refuse the people we desire? And what is the cost, to ourselves, to others and to our art, if we don't?"

And what really happens behind closed doors when a older professor marries his ingenue.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I found this book difficult to read. There were no speech marks, it jumped around in time, I was frequently unsure if the protagonist was narrating what was actually happening, what she was imagining, or what had happened in the past. She was unemotional (OK, for some of the time frames she was in shock) and unsympathetic, and no one's actions made emotional sense to me.

Not for me.

In The Anniversary, novelist J.B. is on the cusp of real literary success after years of propping up her husband Patrick’s career as a filmmaker when he dies on a cruise they have taken. As she unravels, she continues to navigate the demands of sudden success, even as she seems to be falling apart. The author hints that the circumstances of Patrick’s death are ambiguous, but we never really find out exactly what happened—we see consequences rather than facts. Surrounding this is J.B’s ambiguous feelings about her relationship, formed with a power imbalance many years before. Patrick is portrayed almost as a caricature of male entitlement—swaggering, overly self-assured and never questioning J.B’s ‘rightful’ place as his devoted supporter, collaborator and muse.

Incrementally, we discover how central the disappearance of J.B’s mother is to her sense of self, and to many of her stories. Her life has been an exploration of this loss and she sifts through facts and fiction, never quite knowing which is which. The same holds for her perception of Patrick’s fall from the ship – as an unreliable narrator we never know what happened and she doesn’t seem to want to know herself. To me, this book was an examination of power imbalance in creative partnerships, how ego and success can corrupt and damage relationships, how women are more often the ones who lose in this situation, and how they must apologise and play down any success they have. It’s a poignant but accurate assessment and one that left me pondering long after I had finished the pages. The idea that women authors are more likely than their male counterparts to feel the pressure to use fiction as a confessional, that people are hungry for this aspect of their stories and just as likely to judge them for it. As J.B’s life is turned upside down, this novel is just as much a skewering of the literary world as it is an intimate look at an author’s creativity intersecting with her personal life. We are left with the question: has the creativity destroyed the personal life or has the personal life destroyed the creativity? Whatever the answer, this novel is sure to make you think. With many thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for my review copy.

When a novel is a totally first person narrative, almost in a stream of consciousness mode, the reader is always misinformed. In this book that is exactly what unfolds. The narrative is interesting, well written and engaging at times. Told looking back, the main character only offers her truths at first. As the novel unfolds,the revelations are clearly differing. Two artists in different genres marry and both become respected and successful. A planned anniversary cruise becomes the fulcrum for the rest of the action of the novel.
In retrospect, I liked it more than I did while reading it. I could not get past the stifling technique.