It's Only Love

Although readers may wonder at first whether Cashdan is leading them into a coming-of-age story or a mystery, her tale of long-ago romance and present-day intrigue becomes increasingly satisfying. Disillusioned Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rod Bingham, in an effort to regain his passion for his craft, writes the story of the summer of '68, when, as an insecure Harvard student, he was sent by his rigid father to work at a factory in blue-collar Fallsville, Mass. The girl he'd fallen in love with there, Marci Courbienne, nee Parmacella, is now a successful lawyer investigating the suspicious death of Salvatore Durone, who'd played a pivotal role in Rod's summer. Their interest in the dead man forces both Marci and Rod to come to terms--for very different reasons, and in very different ways--with the memories they have been repressing. Their separate perspectives reveal the changes that time has wrought on friends, families, the town and themselves. Cashdan ( Special Interests ) has a warm, smooth narrative style, and she displays a particular flair for characterization. (July)