In this rather glum first novel, Slezak (Last Year's Jesus
) tells the story of three women recovering from personal crisis at various stages in their lives. There's Candy Golden, the sophomore captain of the high school basketball team, orphaned after the sudden death of her mother, a recovering alcoholic. She's living with a friend's family, wondering what to do with her athletic talent and her future and feeling sullen and angry. Her grandaunt, the devoutly Catholic Gloria "Glo" Dreslinski, has lost her husband and is evaluating her marriage and her paltry romantic past. And finally, there is Candy's depressed aunt, Elizabeth Brannigan, recently divorced for the third time and unable to move on. Neither Elizabeth nor Glo want responsibility for Candy, but when Candy quits the basketball team and rumors start flying about her relationship with her coach, they move into action. And thus begins a path to redemption, as the women head on a pilgrimage to a northern Michigan shrine, the Cross in the Woods. The pace is slow and the resolution—a healing game of basketball in Lovely, Mich.—feels too tidy. There are bright moments here, and Slezak is a fine chronicler of angst, but because many of the characters' actions are based on hearsay, misunderstandings and gossip, the truths gained in the final chapters feel like a somewhat hollow victory. Agent, Laurie Liss at Sterling Lord Literistic. (Aug.)
