Mating for Life

In this intriguing and heartbreaking debut novel, Helen Sear, a former flower child folk singer who has three grown daughters from three different men, has famously said she did not need marriage to be happy. Her choice to be more of a friend to her three daughters, instead of the mother figure they needed, has affected each of the girls differently. The oldest, Fiona, a married mother of three who rations out her anti-anxiety pills, is obsessed with being perfect and is increasingly happiest when her husband is away. Artist Ilsa, on her second marriage, has two children and fantasizes about of having an affair. And finally there is Liane, whose indecisiveness affects every aspect of her life. Told from multiple points of view as the characters walk tightropes of tragedy, the novel carefully illustrates the power that each of us has to define who we are and who we can become. Agent: Samantha Haywood, Transatlantic Agency. (July)