Lasting Attachments

Many of these 11 gentle, finely tuned stories, all set in Texas, deftly capture the nuances of shifting family relationships. In ``The Girls in the Garden,'' a 12-year-old gradually realizes that life with her grandmother is far more rewarding than it might be if she lived with her mother and her mother's attentive new husband. ``Trip in a Summer Dress'' concerns the reluctant decision of a young woman, about to be married, to leave her illegitimate son behind with her mother, who has created the fiction that the child is her own. In ``Six White Horses,'' the tranquil routine of an elderly brother and sister is forever shattered by the sister's rejection of a marriage-minded traveling salesman. Some of these stories deal with alliances formed between the young and the very old; a few evolve from the small, vital support groups that spring up between family members. Pulsing with quick humor, keen insight and a feel for small-town life, the tales hold a sweetness that just stops short of being saccharine. (Apr.)