Homing

This novel, the U.S. debut of a writer previously published in Spain, examines the complex fates of three generations of Pacific Northwest women in 1950. Middle-aged Cressa Monroe has lost her husband to his own fantasies and her son to World War II. Now she is about to lose her daughter Faylene to marriage, and she fears that Faylene is rushing into a bad situation and repeating her own mistakes. Cressa also finds herself drawn to the spirit of her mother-in-law, who disappeared, perhaps having committed suicide, 53 years earlier. The novel is crippled by fussy, overly ornate prose that leaves the characters flat and one-dimensional. (October)