The White Road

Veteran novelist DeMaria (The Satyr, etc.) tells an engrossing story of four young people as they pursue their dreams and are pursued by their demons during the politically tumultuous '50s. The narrator, working-class Billy Roamer, had no hope of college until his friendly, left-leaning English teacher procured a scholarship for him at Columbia in 1948. His roommate there, Brandon Wyler, calls himself an ""ordinary rich kid,"" but in fact he's Beau Brummell flamboyant, with Wildean wit and panache. Billy doesn't mind that Brandon is gay, and they become fast friends. Brandon schemes to get Billy a job being in charge of The Lark, Brandon's stepfather's yacht, where Billy meets Amelia Parker, a hard-drinking Bennington beauty, admittedly ""rich, lazy and decadent,"" and her friend Lucinda Darling, an idealist. Calling themselves ""the inner circle,"" the four enjoy a carefree summer in the social whirl of the Hamptons. Billy falls helplessly in love with the mercurial Amelia, and they indulge in a torrid affair until she suddenly decides to study for a year in Paris and leaves without saying good-bye. He's devastated, but becomes passionate about learning, and decides to become a writer. After graduation, he joins his high school mentor at a left-wing publication, a daring move given the tenor of the times. Eventually, Billy leaves New York to go to Paris, where Amelia, now married and the mother of a son, still lives. His meeting with her impels a climactic and surprising series of events. With atmospheric, authentic details, DeMaria, himself an undergrad at Columbia in the '50s, recaptures the era with authority, integrating historical events like the Rosenbergs' execution and the McCarthy witch-hunts into a thoughtful, intriguing story. (Oct.)