HOUSEWRIGHTS

Corriveau concocts an unusual but convincing romantic triangle in his excellent first novel, which takes place in a Vermont village just after the turn of the 20th century. Lily Willard is the precocious, intelligent town librarian who meets her future husband, Oren Pritchard, as a young girl when nine-year-old Oren and his twin, Ian, visit Cabot Lodge while their father builds the Willards' house. The Pritchards quickly move on to the next job, but the handsome, determined Oren returns a decade later to claim Lily for his bride. Lily's vague misgivings about the match are compounded by Ian's return from WWI with a severe case of shell shock, and after Lily helps Ian recover and join her husband in his house-building business, she finds herself torn by her longings for her husband's twin. When those longings are expressed during a town dance, the trio find themselves shunned and isolated. The solution to their dilemma is an engineered courtship between Ian and Lucy's divorced best friend, Hallie, but when marriage follows, the controlling, domineering Hallie drives a wedge between the two brothers. The climax comes when Lily rescues the pregnant Hallie as she begins to miscarry, but Lily is punished for her good deed when Hallie accuses her of killing the stillborn baby. Corriveau is a smooth, evocative writer who creates engaging if somewhat odd characters, although some of the courtship sequences and sexual conflicts seem a bit modern for the setting and the era. He resists the temptation to go over the top with the erotic possibilities involving Lily and the twins, focusing on the intriguing story line to create an accomplished, thought-provoking debut. New England author tour.(July)

Forecast:Booksellers might recommend Corriveau to fans of Howard Norman, whose work is similar in setting and subject matter; the paperback price will encourage readers to take a chance on this debut novel.