A Woman of Nazareth

This first novel would have been better titled ``A Superwoman of Nazareth,'' as almost no obstacle is insuperable to heroine Amal (Arabic for hope). Born in Palestine and raised in Lebanon, she defies her Arab family's expectations and pursues a career as a stewardess. Then she weds a Saudi prince and lives in luxury, until her hunk of a husband is obliged to divorce her and marry a woman with a proper pedigree. Undaunted, Amal begins a second career as a courier for the PLO, but is plunged into depression when her parents and siblings are massacred at a refugee camp. Still, she recovers, earns a degree in psychology, remarries and bears two children. About the only thing Amal cannot do is bring peace to the Middle East--but not for lack of trying (an epilogue here is a letter to an Israeli woman: ``Will you and I take fate into our own hands and say, `Enough'?''). Interesting observations about Palestinian women are eventually sunk by heavy-handed prose and cardboard characters. (Feb.)