The Paper Anniversary

The depiction of a young couple's troubled marriage in this wry, candid and often beguiling first novel depends more on accrued detail than controlled plot and character development. Maisie and Jack Eldridge's first (paper) anniversary has been particularly difficult: Maisie is working in a menial publishing job in New York, Jack has returned to Maine to manage the family french fry business following the death of his father. Although it is Maisie who asks for an informal separation, it is Jack who lands the first serious and rewarding extramarital romance. When Maisie wants to return to the security of her marriage, it is all but over in Jack's heart. Although they do eventually grow more mature during their awkward dance-around separation/reunion, lovers and family are bruised in the process. Uneven pacing is a problem here: after the slow motion ping-pong of the first three quarters of the novel, the plot erupts with surprises, but they seem gratuitous and artificial. Wickersham, whose short fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories , has keen powers of observation: the locals' pronunciation of Jack's hometown (Champs du Soleil) as ``ShamDOOsly,'' for example. Most significantly, however, her tolerance and compassionate understanding of her characters' faults and foibles gives her novel a distinctive voice. 25,000 first printing. (Apr.)