American Dreamer

Weir's (Long Night Moon) latest contemporary romance is a subtle yet shattering bucolic love poem of the American heartland. Lark Leopold, a sheltered young woman bearing the secret of painful sexual wounds, travels to Iowa to conduct a study on ""the contentment of cows."" She is attracted to a farmer, Nathan Senatra, but upon discovering his ex-wife floating face down in a cow pond, she suspects Nathan of the murder. But the murder plot is overshadowed by Nathan's and Lark's romantic torment as each has been wounded in ways that make love well-nigh impossible. Weir isn't maudlin, but rather endows her characters with a warm wit--and the ultimate resolution of their obstacles is an affirmation to the weariest reader. (May)