Newfangled

The past is a shadow Maidie Bonasso can't shake; both her prison and her refuge, it pursues her every time she makes a new start, through six states ranging from Arkansas to Arizona. The shadow harbors two ex-husbands, a mother who abandoned her, a pair of sisters she barely knows and a collection of former acquaintances who function as a Greek chorus in Maidie's head. We encounter Maidie as she flees Virginia and her second, abusive husband to become curator of an eclectic women's history museum in Tucson. Her new surroundings quickly produce a string of eccentric neighbors and friends: Z., the churlish but love-obsessed professor; Rona, the perennially nosy neighbor; August and Clima, the slightly daffy older couple who informally adopt her; and a new romantic interest, Rex, who may be the sensitive man she deserves. As Maidie engages in a wistful search for the people who ""would finally be her life,"" however, her present functions as little more than a trigger to plunge her into the past. Short-story writer (A Wild, Cold State) and first-time novelist Monroe executes this flashback narrative device to generally good effect, but mentally peripatetic Maidie's inveterate habit of recalling past experiences also gives the story a schizophrenic quality. Yet the writing is intelligent and witty, and the book brims with deliciously wacky small-town, small-time types who prove quite entertaining. Maidie is finally compelled to confront the demons in her past when her mother--whom she hasn't heard from in 20 years--summons her to a funeral. The novel's disjointed elements coalesce at the ensuing family reunion, where Monroe ably brings the story to a graceful detente. (Feb.)