Hammond Innes' East Anglia

Original pieces, reprints of Ascher's magazine articles and ""Hers'' columns in the New York Times make up a provocative, zesty collection of essays on common and rare experiences. In the title entry, the author recalls the illicit pleasures of childhood, ``playing after dark.'' She compares the memory to her guilt as an adult about to desert her family for a month in pursuit of her work as a writer. Readers will share Ascher's feelings on conflicting duties. There is also much to ponder in essays on love, between men and women, and between parents and children. The book closes with three sensitive, memorable accounts of Ascher's sojourns to special placesKeats's grave, Faulkner's house and the home of Eudora Welty. For the interview with Welty alone, the journalist deserves abundant praise. (September 5)