Quirky characters spend much of their time thinking disjointed thoughts and acting on scattered ideas in Cooney's likable but unfocused fourth novel (after The Old Ballerina). Tara Barlow is a young Massachusetts woman who has every aspect of her life planned down to the slightest detail, including her upcoming wedding. But when her chosen site for the nuptials burns to the ground four months before the big day, Tara calmly hops into her Mustang and takes off for parts unknown (" 'I'll go west,' she decided. 'I'll go west like the setting sun' "), leaving behind no clue to her whereabouts. She doesn't get much farther than the next town over before the book's viewpoint switches to that of Guida Santucci, the local psychic who is hired to track Tara down ("I was Italian, and I was Catholic, and I was fat. And one day, it was raining," begins Guida's narrative about her discovery of her oracular powers). Guida does manage to find Tara, although it is through old-fashioned detective work rather than third-eye divination. To the amazement of both the 53-year-old Guida and the 24-year-old Tara, a strong mutual attraction immediately develops. The novel is marred by Cooney's tendency to wander off the subject as the characters slip into frequent flashbacks. Though not everyone will go for Cooney's stylized cast of eccentrics, the affair between Guida and Tara is sweetly rendered and their dizzy interior lives possess a whimsical charm. (Sept.)
