Welcome back to the '50s, a bygone black-and-white era when a woman's future—getting married, having babies—was preordained by the surrounding culture. Emmet, whose nonfiction title So Fine a Prospect: Historic New England Gardens
was a 1996 New York Times
Notable Book of the Year, zeroes in on the Prescott family for her debut novel, a funny/horrifying nostalgia piece. Julius and Liza have moved to suburban Rock Hill with their young daughter, Abby. While Julius commutes to his Boston law office, Liza discusses how much produce she's canned with the other stay-at-home wives. For big excitement, the couple meets once a month with other local marrieds at the titular Mr. and Mrs. Club. Lately, however, Liza's seeing Julius and her Stepford life more clearly, even if her vision is skewed by Mary Hartman–like thoughts. Then she meets Derek Clifford, the black sheep of a family of granite moguls, who does something no one else around her does: he actually thinks for himself. Attraction ensues and Liza's existential questioning deepens: can she claim some things for herself without threatening the fabric of family life? Liza, like an eerie Donna Reed, is a wonderful creation, and it is fun watching her move toward self-liberation as she learns that sometimes suburbia is just a stepping stone to real life. Readers with more conventional tastes do need to be advised that a large part of the book—which is broken into short, titled chapters—reads more like a string of vignettes than like a conventionally plotted novel. (June)
