Borden's middling second novel (following Lucky Me
) features Bitsy Lerner, 43 and a mother of two in the 'burbs, gets jolted out of her routines when she finds her husband, Alan, on the floor, overdosed on Vicodin. With Alan in rehab, Bitsy, shocked by her family's debt-ridden finances and crumbling emotional infrastructure, flashes back over her idyllic childhood, ambivalent college art studies and single-mindedness about marrying. In this dark finding-myself comedy, the arrival of housekeeper Bebe (courtesy of Grandma) and a focus outward and artward may save Bitsy's inner sanctum, sense of self and recalcitrant brood—just in time for Alan's return. (May)
