The Transformation of Things

While Jennifer Levenworth is getting her hair done at a beauty salon, her husband, Will, the Deerfield, Pa., district attorney, appears on television. There have been charges of bribery, the anchorman announces, and by the time Jennifer gets home, Will has left his office to strike a plea bargain in the hopes of avoiding jail time, and Jennifer's perfect life—well-appointed home, weekly tennis game, country club membership—has fallen apart. She returns to Philadelphia and tries to win back her old job and her old friend, Kat, a working mother who Jennifer discarded when she decamped for Deerfield. But neither her old life nor her new one feel right; her marriage is seriously wobbling and her family no longer understands her. Will is silent and evasive; Jennifer and her father aren't talking; and Jennifer's sister is too busy with her own children to offer solace. Worse, when Jennifer goes to sleep, her dreams seem all too real. Cantor creates convincing, likable characters, but unfortunately sacrifices their development for an implausible twist near the end that may leave readers wishing Jennifer had never entered that beauty salon in the first place. (Nov.)