All about Camilla

The frantic pace and myriad responsibilities of Camilla Somers's life as wife, mother and fashion editor for a Sunday supplement are apparent in the memos and notes she sends prior to an unexpected trip to research an article. Written to her husband, her teenage children, her mother, her housekeeper, her assistant, her editor and her best friend, the notes display Camilla's talent for organization and her deep commitment to both work and her family. The next section of this collaborative effort from two British journalists gives us views of Camilla from the vantage points of those who have received her missives. While some truly adore her, the untruths in the success-with-sympathy image she has concocted emerge gradually. The housekeeper Camilla wishes could cook turns out to be a whiz in the kitchen; the ""troublesome'' daughter simply understands her mother too well; and the ``thick'' assistant is responsible for most of Camilla's best work. In the end, after her ``research'' is exposed as a tryst with the best friend's husband, Camilla's role falls apart completely, leaving her coterie, to their great surprise, much happier without her. This is a modern cautionary tale, well and fully told, if a little sad. (November 15)