Like We Used to Be

The interlinked lives of two sisters are realistically revealed in this novel set in England during the '50s and '60s from the author of An Imperfect Joy . Two very dissimilar women, Zoe and Leila, experience personal upheavals that leave them battered but unbowed. Zoe, the more conformist sibling, endures a lackluster marriage, bears two children and undergoes a divorce that forces her to become her own person. Leila, whose untrammeled bohemianism is compensation for her perception of herself as second-best, also faces the pain of a failed relationship and the challenges of single motherhood. Their parents' deaths provide an opportunity to consider that marriage, a moving aspect of this resonant novel, as the sisters cope with this separation in a way that clarifies their own attachments. 60,000 first printing; $60,000 ad/promo. (Jan.)