The Pilot's Wife

The Pilot’s Wife, by Anita Shreve, was first published in 1998 by Little Brown, and was Oprah’s Book Club selection for March of 1999. Shreve, who died in 2018, was also the author of the bestselling novel, The Weight of Water, adapted into a film starring Sean Penn and Sarah Polley. Shreve’s work is known for its depth, interiority, and examination of women’s emotional lives. The Pilot’s Wife is the third novel of four in Shreve’s Fortune’s Rocks Quartet, which all center around the same house in Fortune’s Rocks, New Hampshire. Beyond the common setting, each of the novels in the series examines themes of motherhood, marriage, and class. In 2002, The Pilot’s Wife was adapted into a movie, starring Christine Lahti and John Heard, by CBS.

This guide refers to the eBook version, published in 2007 by Back Bay Books.

Plot Summary

The Pilot’s Wife is the story of Kathryn Lyons, a teacher in Ely, New Hampshire, who lives in nearby Fortune’s Rocks. Upon her husband’s death, she discovers his secret life, forcing her to reevaluate their entire relationship. From the time she answers the door in the middle of the night to find out that Jack, a pilot, has died in a plane crash, Kathryn is faced with revelations that shake the foundations of her life. She pursues the answers she needs, traveling from New Hampshire to London, and finally to Ireland, in search of the truth. As Kathryn seeks answers, chapters flash back to various points in their marriage, giving a more nuanced understanding of the present storyline. These flashbacks begin on the day that Kathryn and Jack first meet, and trace the evolution of their relationship, placing it in juxtaposition with the truths that Kathryn is facing in the present. As Kathryn discovers more about Jack’s secret life, memories resonate with new meaning for her.

Robert Hart, a representative of the pilot's union, arrives at Kathryn’s door in the middle of the night. He informs her that her husband, Jack, has died in a plane crash while piloting. Robert steps in immediately to help Kathryn field phone calls from the press, as well as advocating for her with investigators. With the discovery that there was a bomb on the plane, investigators begin to believe that Jack was trying to die by suicide, a scenario that Kathryn refuses to believe.

Robert asks her about Jack's mental state. Kathryn thinks about their relationship, which has grown more distant, and the way that Jack has withdrawn from her over the years. She tells Robert about a time, five years earlier, when Jack had been unsatisfied with his job, but upon getting a new route from Boston to Heathrow, seemed to set that aside. Over the course of these early days, Kathryn finds mysterious notes and receipts in Jack’s pockets, as well as an old list in his office, but is too exhausted to pursue the truth.

The investigators interview Kathryn, and frustrate her by refusing to tell her what they know about the crash. They do have a shocking piece of news: Contrary to her belief that Jack's mother is dead, she is very much alive. Kathryn realizes that the mystery is larger than the plane crash, and encompasses Jack’s personal life. Just when things are beginning to settle down, Robert returns to her with a revelation: On the night before the crash, Jack did not sleep in the crew apartment in London. No one knows where he stayed, but they do know that he called for a dinner reservation for two people before he left.

As the mystery surrounding Jack deepens, Kathryn remembers the notes from Jack's pocket and the list from his office. One of the notes has a London telephone number. When she calls it, a woman answers. Kathryn asks Robert for a list of crew members who flew with Jack, and finds a name on the list, Muire Boland, which is also on the list she found in Jack’s office. Robert describes what he has heard about the flight recording, and it seems clear to them both that Jack had an armed bomb in his bag. Kathryn does not know what to make of this new information, but decides to go to London and find Muire Boland.

When Muire Boland answers her door in London, she is holding a baby that is clearly Jack's child. Muire is Jack’s second wife. Muire and Jack were married in the Catholic Church because Jack was a strong believer, which does not fit Kathryn’s understanding of his faith. Muire and Jack had been together for five years, and their home is completely different from Kathryn's. It turns out Muire had known about Kathryn all along. Kathryn returns to the hotel, where she tells Robert everything.

The next morning, while they are breakfasting at the hotel, Muire comes and explains the rest of the story: During her time as a flight attendant, she had smuggled money from America to Ireland for the Irish Republican Army (IRA). When she became pregnant, Jack took over her route. The night before the crash, he was told that he would, for the first time, carry something from London to America. Instead of money, an armed bomb had been placed in his bag by a rival organization that wanted to discredit the IRA, and it had gone off when his co-pilot had opened the bag. Robert asks Muire about other pilots who were smuggling, and Kathryn realizes that he had suspected Jack all along. She leaves and goes straight to the airport. She decides to go to Ireland, to the site of the salvage operation. Once there, she takes a boat out to the crash site, where she is finally able to let go of her hurt and anger. Months later, Kathryn and Mattie, her and Jack’s 15-year-old daughter, are fishing in the ocean behind their house, when Robert returns. He apologizes for keeping secrets from her, and Kathryn begins to see the possibility of future love.