Paxton Court

Gay pride meets the graying of America in Salvatore's (Not Telling Mother: Stories from a Life) fresh and funny novel about four gay couples who retire together. Leaving behind demanding careers and Manhattan mayhem for Lakeside Leisure, a Florida retirement community, long-term lovers and longtime friends Chris and Karen, Angie and Ruth, Lara and Helen and Rudy and Rich purchase neighboring houses on Paxton Court and paint them purple. But some of the local residents, led by nosy Bunny Seagirt, are horrified by the proximity of the ``Lakeside Lesbos'' and ``Paxton perverts.'' Over the course of a few life-altering weeks, the issue grips the community. Some seniors immediately rally to the cause of the gay couples, some are won over, others merely adjust to their presence and some remain openly hostile. Still others reveal secret leanings of their own. As the eight newcomers adapt to retirement, each wrestles with regrets, agings and secret longings, as all affirm their love (erotic or platonic) for one another. Salvatore's lovers may be a bit too adoring of--and indistinct from--one another; but, thankfully, the author doesn't grandstand on gay issues but instead concentrates on the dynamics of senior-citizen love, proving herself wise in the ways of the heart, the mind and the libido. (Nov.)