Domestic Affairs

Syndicated columnist Maynard (author of the novel Baby Love paints scenes from her 10-year marriage, centering on the care of three children. Detailing, often humorously, her three-pronged adventure of ""making a home, making a marriage work, trying to have a career,'' Maynard brings the reader into the intimacy of her rural New Hampshire home bustling with the exhausting but gratifying work of raising children. Entertaining and instructive episodes focus on motherhood, a high-risk occupation from which there is no vacation. Many other young couples will find resonance in this tale of the Maynard's marriage. As the world of baby-sitters and peanut butter impinges on larger, more global concerns, such as nuclear dump sites, Maynard quotes a male follower of her column: ``. . . reading about your children made me decide . . . to get a vasectomy.'' (June 24)