For Better for Worse

Broughton House, an old English country estate set along the Wiltshire/Dorset border in England, is the inanimate protagonist of Jordan's (Power Play) lengthy exploration into the human drama. Three couples view the house as the answer to their personal problems. Eleanor, with her new husband, two sons from a previous marriage and troubled teenaged stepdaughter, hopes the house will help them bond as a family. Hotel manager Zoe, who dreams of turning Broughton House into a bed-and-breakfast in order to free her lover, Ben, from the demands of his dysfunctional family. Finally, there is Fern, trapped in an emotionally abusive marriage to Nick. She's hopelessly in love with Nick's stepbrother Adam, with whom she once had an affair and who is now involved in the sale of Broughton House. Fern is the most interesting of the lot as she comes to realize that she is a battered wife-sans the bruises-and slowly emerges as a self-possessed woman. Although the narrative is overlong, often rambling, and quite ordinary, women everywhere will find pieces of themselves in Jordan's characters. Ad/promo. (Dec.)