Fiction

Novels and narratives for the waning days of summer.

Dannie Faber and her husband have an unusual arrangement. A 53-year-old children's book illustrator who likes to work in good light, she prefers their beach house in Truro on Cape Cod. Thomas Faber, an anthropology professor at MIT, needs to be near campus, so he spends most of his time at the couple's house in the Boston suburb of Watertown. As Dannie explains in Anne Bernays's intelligent, page-turning new novel, Trophy House (Simon & Schuster, $24), "All and all it works out okay and we have, over the years, trusted each other not to mess with other people."

That's about to change. First, Dannie's best friend, Raymie, takes up with the obnoxious rich guy who has just built an ostentatious trophy house down the beach from the Fabers. Raymie's rash act spurs Dannie to explore her nascent attraction to a New York editor she's talked to on the phone for years but never met. At the same time, Dannie and Tom's daughter drops in and out of her parents' lives as she struggles to find herself.

Bernays, author of seven previous novels and a book of short stories, as well as some works of nonfiction, here weaves several newsy threads through her intriguing plot. It's the summer of 2002, and the emotional fallout from Sept. 11 hangs in the air. There's also a shocking, unsolved murder in Truro and an eco-terrorist on the loose who spatters the trophy house with paint the color of blood.

But Bernays's book is really about the unraveling of a marriage, and she tells that story with wit and sensitivity. Though Trophy House is undemanding enough to make a dandy beach read, its main character's emotional struggles and confusions are by no means simple-minded. This is one of those books that goes down easy but offers plenty to think about.

Sobering Reflections

Racial identity, a lost parent and substance abuse are all issues for Abel Crofton, the narrator of Heather Neff's skillfully written, emotionally gripping Haarlem (Harlem Moon/Broadway; paperback, $12.95). A 45-year-old recovering alcoholic whose abusive jazz musician father has just drunk himself to death, Abel sets out for Holland in search of the Dutch mother he never knew.

In Amsterdam, Abel must deal with a raft of unexpected feelings and discoveries, all the while battling "the Thirst." Though he's 12 years sober, his cravings are still powerful. In a café next to his hotel, he finds himself drawn to Sophie, a recovering addict of Dutch-Caribbean descent who winds up helping him find his mother and uncover a family secret that is both shocking and, in the end, inspiring.

When Neff is writing about Abel and his community back in Harlem, her voice is assured, with a perfect ear for dialogue and Abel's inner voice. "My hands began to tremble at the thought of a whiskey sour at thirty-three thousand feet," Abel says to himself on the plane to Amsterdam. " Lick. Er. Sweat slicked my forehead and my finger inched toward the little orange silhouette of a woman on the armrest."

But Sophie and her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Elias, come across as wooden and preachy. "People who begin using at a very early age never experience normal emotional development," drones Elias. "They have a great deal of trouble taking on adult responsibilities and forming permanent relationships."

Nevertheless, the novel reaches an emotional climax guaranteed to induce tears. Suffice it to say that Abel finds what he's looking for, and more. Neff has written an ambitious novel that even evokes the biblical tales of Cain and Abel and the prodigal son. Despite the flaws, she succeeds beautifully.

Bear Hugs

Novels that give nonverbal characters such as dogs, babies or stuffed animals a voice can be irritating -- like those awful John Travolta movies where the babies talk to themselves and sound like adults. In Little Beauties (Simon & Schuster, $23), Kim Addonizio has gone one step further and imbued an unborn baby with a narrative role that is, surprisingly, rather entertaining. "It's hard to relax, when Mom is so keyed up," says Stella from inside the womb of her teenage mother, Jamie. "Take it easy, Mom. Everything's okay. I'm snug and cozy in here."

Addonizio's two other misfit narrators are equally deadpan and knowing. Diana, a 34-year-old obsessive-compulsive whose husband has just left her, works in a baby store called Teddy's World. "I used to look into the eyes of my childhood teddy, Ginger, and see infinite love," she observes one day on the job. "This one just looks at me though. That's how they all are now. Today's teddies look out only for themselves."

Through this job, Diana meets pregnant Jamie, who wanders into the store one day even though she's planning to give up her baby for adoption. Soon after, Jamie goes into labor and delivers in the back seat of a Mercedes driven by a traumatized widower who finds salvation in this oddball act of good samaratinism.