Leaves of Fortune

Past and present collide predictably in a competent, though not especially exciting novel by the author of Fires of Destiny. The gothic curse hanging heavily over the Templeton family has taken a toll of violent death in each generation. Minerva Templeton, the 80-year-old matriarch who controls the tea business that clinched the family fortune, unwisely sets her grandchildren, Travis and Delilah, a task that will decide who inherits the empire. Delilah is the beauteous, very successful owner of a California herbal tea company. She returns to Boston after having been estranged from the family since a youthful, tempestuous affair with Travis, who she thought was her cousin, was ruthlessly crushed by Minerva, who was privy to the sickening knowledge that the heedless lovers were actually brother and sister. Now Delilah's cousin, Travis's brother Nick, is making his attraction to her obvious. While an ancestor, the witch Helen Templeton, spins forward in time from Puritan Boston to deliver a warning to this troubled future generation, a friend is tapping into the family's murky past with a trendy bit of channeling. The most compelling, evocative scenes take place in India, when Minerva was young. Otherwise, this is a largely overheated brew of incest, New Age mysticism and dark deeds. 100,000 first printing; Doubleday Book Club main selection; Literary Guild alternate. (September)