Reeling and Writhing

Presenting a merciless dissection of her marriage of 30 years ago to a scholarly but domineering, jealous and womanizing husband, Lawrence recalls her escape from emotional and sexual abuse, and her recovery of a personal identity. Although she writes lyrically of nature and her children, her acerbic portraits of academics, and use of prose that verges on the turgid to express rage at men's mistreatment of women, seems at times to justify her husband's quoted remark that she ``had no gift for happiness.'' The decision of the court to award custody of the couple's two children to the father rather than to Lawrence drove her to kidnap her children on two occasions--the second time successfully--and to a new life under a new identity. (Apr.)