A familiar women's fiction premise—husband leaves wife and kids for pretty young thing—is well served by Little's (Good Hair) feisty, conversational style and her memorable depiction of black upper-class life. Ina Robinson has a beautiful home in an exclusive neighborhood; a generous husband, Jay, who is a fellow Howard University graduate and successful real estate entrepreneur; and three adorable children—Malcolm, Marcus and Ivy. She spends her days caring for the kids, cleaning the house, volunteering, and attending her book club and mothers' group. Yet she has the vague sense that something is missing. In her mothers' group, "all the women were powerful used-to-bes: a banker, several lawyers, a journalist, but I'd never really had a career to miss." When Jay leaves her for a real estate heiress, Ina realizes that she has been sleepwalking through the last few years of her life, having chosen security and predictability over creativity and independence. Though the separation leaves Ina at wit's end—she barely has time to explain to the kids about Daddy's new girlfriend before Jay is selling the house out from under her—she also begins to develop her own career as a photographer, has a chance to reconnect with her first love and begins to consider what she truly wants from her life. Little's writing is assured, apart from the occasional homily ("Know that there's always a price for not being yourself"), and she captures well the awkwardness of being a single divorcée in the suburbs. In all, this is a solid, likable effort. 10-city author tour. (Jan.)
