Group Sex

To be blonde and beautiful and stupendously bright, to be carefree and in love, is every woman's dream; to be kind and giving into the bargain, may be her undoing. Young editor Frances Girard lives in an elegant apartment at the top of a handsome Manhattan brownstone, whose owner Madeline demands, besides the rent, backrubs and tea and sympathy, especially now when she is in thrall to Paul Treat, the director whose play she is financing. After he meets Frances, Paul very soon is making journeys upstairs, a situation that Frances can't stand and Madeline won't stand for. Frances moves out of the brownstone and into Paul's loft, where she serves as handmaiden, fall-girl and brunt-bearer to Paul and his hypochondria and mercurial moods, and eventually breadwinner until his latest play finds a backer. Frances rebels and the lovers part, but a reconciliation ends this sparkling romantic comedy. Comparable to Laurie Colwin's best work, this is a provocative mood change from Arensberg's stunning first novel, Sister Wolf. (September 9)