Silk

Mazur takes her readers on a journey around the world in 11 often subtly connected short stories that are meant to appeal to the senses and the gypsy spirit. In Singapore she evokes the smell of orange trees; in Paris the griffins and monkeys perched on an old cathedral; in Boston the ""beginning pulses of the wind"" as a hurricane begins. Mazur records the sensation of the present while each of her characters, in a distinct voice, records the past that surrounds it. The clever nuances of the stories (particularly those involving the figure of Cass) are immensely pleasing. When Cass is modeling nude for her Aunt Marika in ""Backlighting,"" the reader understands both the significance of their relationship and the complexity of the younger woman's attachment to France as related in ""Privacy,"" the first story in the collection. The apex of Cass's journey occurs in ""The Lights of Love""; she is in Singapore, recounting her French odyssey for Max, the amorous husband of a close friend. Here, Cass's dialogue is skillfully crafted to reply to questions that were left unanswered at the end of ""Foreign Things."" Mazur's writing is generously descriptive and lyrical and her dialogue is subtly apt, but most of all it is rare to find a collection that works as coherently as this. (Sept.)