cover image WOMEN IN THE GROVE

WOMEN IN THE GROVE

Paula W. Peterson, . . Beacon, $20 (205pp) ISBN 978-0-8070-8352-9

Peterson, author of Penitent with Roses , a memoir of her life as an HIV-positive mother, continues to explore the ramifications of AIDS in this unconventional collection, which focuses mostly on California women who have received a positive diagnosis for HIV. "A Miracle" gets the collection off to a tongue-in-cheek start as a woman gets a visit in her dreams from a rumpled, unlikely God, who promises to reverse her positive status as long as she agrees to acknowledge him as the source of the cure. In "Africa," another woman longs for respite; Clarissa, the wife of an African-American academic at Stanford, learns that she has HIV and turns to memories of a visit to Africa to cope with having her life turned upside down. Perhaps the most innovative story in the collection is the unconventional "The Woman in the Long Green Coat," which describes a charged friendship between a former Russian prostitute and the physician who gives her the dire news about her HIV status. Too many of the remaining stories feature carbon-copy characters—specifically, infected African-American women in urban ghettos—but Peterson does offer intriguing conceits and portrayals in several yarns. In "Big Brother," for instance, a woman becomes involved with the wispy, college-age Caucasian volunteer who joins a program to become a mentor for her son, while a female AIDS victim battles against the apparition of her former lover in "Cherry's Ghost." The combination of sharp dialogue and gritty, realistic backdrops helps bring the conceits to life, and Peterson shows unusual compassion for her conflicted characters. Her range is necessarily limited, but within the confines of her chosen subject matter, she delivers a series of tough epiphanies. Agent, Esmond Harmsworth. (Apr.)