All Good Women

On the eve of World War II, four young women, students at a San Francisco secretarial school, become housemates. They are linked by working-class backgrounds, which have given them the desire for financial stability and independence. Moira, the most conventionally pretty, dreams of becoming an actress. Teddy, an Oklahoma native, wants to help her migrant family. The daughter of Jewish immigrants, Ann yearns for the college education her parents have decided to give her brother. As a Japanese-American, aspiring writer Wanda is the most directly and immediately affected by the war when she is interned in a desert resettlement camp. The story follows the four through war work, affairs, pregnancies and deaths. Though readers may sometimes feel that the women's consistently placid natures do not ring true, Miner (Winter's Edge) has done a splendid job of recreating the fear and paranoia of the war years. This is ultimately a satisfying book. (October 12)