Sunlight on a Broken Column

Turn-of-the-century New Yorker Caroline Slade suddenly loses the advantages of her privileged youth in Rae's practiced but generally suspenseless seventh novel (after The Hidden Cove). Awkward and plain compared to her beautiful but corrupt older sister, Laurel, Caroline is interested not in boys, clothes or parties but in attending local Normal College. Befriended by wealthy, eccentric Miss Prentice and her troubled nephew, Leland, Caroline, Laurel and their elder brother, Brad, are taken in by Miss Prentice after the sudden deaths of their parents and their younger brother leave them nearly penniless. Caroline seems to have found a home until Leland's tortured love for Laurel finally threatens Caroline's life and reveals a shocking secret. Regrettably, this tale suffers from too many points of view (many of them too indistinct), pedestrian prose and uninspired plotting. (Nov.)