McDaid's Wife

Tess McDaid is one of those passive, drifting women who, when confronted by her husband's adultery, is forced to grow up. William McDaid, a mercurial Irish author, establishes his family in West Berlin for a year to write. He's a wife-beater, a sometimes drunk, and in the free and easy sexual climate of Berlin immediately takes up with a younger woman. William taunts the South African-born Tess to have an affair but she's incapable of itthough she does try to pick up a man at a movie. When William starts living with Anneliese, Tess flees to friends in London and looks for work as a secretary. She returns home when it becomes apparent that her husband and three sons can't sustain themselves without her. The novel ends, if not in an upbeat fashion, with a determined Tess sure of what she'll do next. Anders does a fine job portraying the claustrophobic world of a marriage teetering on the brink. Her forte is clearly depicting the internal lives of her characters. Less successful is the somewhat static narrative. (March)