June

A frustrated Midwestern housewife discovers her own worth in this gentle and empathetic first novel. June Ventler is a 38-year-old farmer's wife in Ashton, Ill., in the summer of 1940. Her husband, Ed, communicates in putdowns or one-word answers. June's father, a retired beekeeper, lives with her, too; he rarely utters more than a dismissive ""Ach,"" while Ed's relatives merely condescend to her. June longs for a baby, but biology hasn't cooperated, and June remains afraid of ""cleaning out hen houses the rest of my natural life."" Though she enjoys the summertime company of her teenaged niece Betsy, June can reveal her real feelings only in letters to her best friend Muriel; to make matters still worse, a talkative, friendly farmhand has stirred up unwelcome feelings. Fortunately, June loves to design house plans. Midway through the novel, she wins a design contest; the prize is a trip to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin. The bus trip to Wisconsin helps June see herself and her surroundings in a new light, and she returns to Ashton a changed woman. With warmly assembled details, Smith neatly captures the ways and the politics of a pre-WWII farm community, and the segments concerning Frank Lloyd Wright are also well researched. If Smith is no Wright Morris, she does pull off a detailed story about a woman, a time, a place and a way of life often overlooked. Regional author tour. (Mar.)