Period of Confinement

There is much to savor in this small, deeply affecting novel, written in the voice of a woman who abandons her baby and husband in a depressed, confused postpartum ""period of confinement.'' The endearing protagonist, Alma Taylor, who has ``never stuck to anything'' and is unsure of her own identity, explores the blessings and perils of forming attachments while making the difficult, irrevocable transition from daughter to wife and mother. With a keen ear for dialogue and a penchant for descriptions as palpable as the artist Alma's paintings, Crone (The Winnebago Mysteries and Other Stories weaves the bizarre with the mundane, breathing life into Alma's pregnancy and childbirth, her mother-in-law Rachel's death as well as her friend Gina's sex-change operation. Crone's lyric, fluent prose is deceptively artless, her wry humor and lack of sentimentality refreshing. The shimmering tale has a few rough edgesRachel's ambiguous attitude toward Alma needs delineation; the depiction of Jewish life is stereotypicalbut to dwell on them would be quibbling. (August 4)