Biting the Apple

Bledsoe's fourth novel delves deep into what happens when the construction of an image overtakes the living of a life. In high school in the early 1970s, Marianne Wade, estranged daughter of an itinerant preacher, shows a distinct talent for track. Her ability is developed for the Olympics by her coach (and husband and manager to-be) Nick Capelli, but when the U.S. boycotts the Moscow games, Marianne begins to drift, takes the name Eve Glass and eventually becomes a motivational author and speaker. Through Eve's reluctance to fully let go of Nick (after they divorce); her rebellion against her new manager's attempts to treat her as a “product”; her episodes of shoplifting and petty theft; the odd relationship she has with Joan, a female reporter she had a love affair with in high school; and her obsession with a poet, she becomes more than a once-promising athlete since fallen on hard times. With its emphasis on starting over, the novel juxtaposes prefabricated enlightenment and fake faith with real hope and one woman's authentic search to discover what matters. (July)