Someone Wonderful

Something wonderful indeed is this story of a young English woman's growth into love and maturity in a family of beautifully realized, slightly damaged human beings. Lily Teape, the illegitimate daughter of a well-to-do young woman killed in a boating accident, was raised by her aunt Grace, widowed by the same accident. Her childhood spent following Grace in her pursuit of romance and perfect marriage--Happily Ever After, Grace calls it--Lily develops into a self-contained, realistic young woman who remakes beautiful old clothing. She also helps watch over Sebastian, the blind son of Grace's brother Oliver, a famous photographer. Grace finally marries a violent artist much younger than herself; Oliver and Lily fall precipitously in love, although he is terminally ill with a rare neurological disease. Complications increase when Grace's husband and Oliver's wife begin an affair at a family gathering in Tuscany. Juggling the demands of fantasy and reality, Lily struggles to protect both Grace and Sebastian, even as she and Oliver determine not to turn away from the horror of his impending death. Deft at plotting--characters are revealed more in what they do than what they say--Neil ( As We Forgive ) writes with grace and heart, and not a whit of sentimentality. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates. (Apr.)