Men and Angels

Gordon introduces the reader to women who form an ""enabling chain'': Caroline imparts strength to her daughter-in-law Jane, who befriends Anne, who cheers up teenage babysitter Laura. But when Laura becomes ``born again'' and tries to ``save'' Anne, a successful woman who nonetheless has a streak of self-loathing, disaster looms. Although Anne's self-pity wearies, as a whole the book succeeds ``on the strength of Gordon's plunging insights into the nature of mother love, family relationships, ambition and responsibility,'' PW observed. (April)