Elinor Lipman
Born and raised in a college dorm and chafing under the care of "the most annoyingly evenhanded parental team in the history of civilization," Frederica Hatch is starting to feel that her life is stiflingly snug. But then, into this cozy but claustrophobic world, comes Laura Lee French, a wannabe Rockette and the new dorm mother at the lackluster women's college where Frederica's parents teach and agitate. Further disturbing the peace is the fact
...
When Harriet Mahoney first saw it, Isabel Krug's bed was covered in sheared sheep and littered with celebrity biographies. The unpublished, fortyish, and recently jilted Harriet had fled wintry Manhattan in response to a mysterious ad in the New York Review of Books: "Book in progress? Why not share my Cape Cod retreat? Roomy and peaceful—your life will be your own."
In a room with a view atop a Truro dune, Harriet starts on a
...