Mount's Mistake

As Jay Fielding Mount, the protagonist of this eccentric, moving novel, takes leave of Fort Wayne, Ind., his dour landlady reflects that he is ""an accidental sort of person . . . and would perhaps always have the effect of making fundamentally satisfied people experience a gnawing, indescribable discontent whenever he entered a room or came toward them on the street.'' Mount's simple nature and his instinct for trouble are key parts of his odd, itinerant existence; still his gentle spirit draws him to strong attachments with fellow outsiders. McCreary's understated narrative provides a penetrating insight into life at the edge of society in turn-of-the-century America. From a near-fatal lightning accident in his youth to an adult encounter with Thomas Edison, Mount is uneasy with ``e-lec-tri-c-stetty.'' Readers sympathize with him as he makes his precarious way in a dangerous and changing world. (November)