Two Strand River

Maillard accurately describes his adult fairy tale as ""a novel about a girl who should have been a boy and a boy who should have been a girl."" Two Strand River transcends the boundaries between the sexes, between humanity and nature, and between imagination and reality. Although they navigate a physical world that seems soap-opera small, Maillard's characters orbit a rich spiritual terrain. Alan Lehman is a beautician who feels trapped in a male body. His transformation into Ellen, a graceful and confident woman, is aided by Mildred Mackenzie, the mystical mother of one of his customers. ""You're split along a certain seam,"" she explains to him, ""And we have to break you there so you can open."" Leslie Fraser is a washed-up competitive swimmer turned children's librarian who also finds herself pulled between identities. Central to Two Strand River is this theme of wrenching open, of doing away with conventions, in order to reach a deeper understanding. From Alan's niece to Leslie's oldest brother, each character finds a different type of satisfaction by moving past the familiar into the unknown. This makes for interesting characters but also for a rather wan plot and little narrative drive. For those interested in a book about transcendent spirituality, about characters finding themselves, this book, originally published in Canada, in 1976, has much to recommend it. For those searching for literature, it comes up short. (Oct.)