Evans's second novel (after Maggie's Rags
), which chronicles a day in the life of a woman grappling with personal and marital doubt, offers deft insights into the elements that bind relationships together and cause them to fall apart. Arlene Handel is back, reluctantly, in Stanley, Calif., a town that was once home and is now a reminder of an unhappy past. For the past three years, Arlene and Rudy, her second husband, have lived in coastal Northport, hours away from the town where they met, but Rudy's health concerns force the couple to return to Stanley. For Rudy, the homecoming is sweet: everyone recognizes his last name, his beloved daughter is there and the tavern regulars rowdily welcome him. Arlene, however, recalls the town as a place of loneliness and insecurity: "I've never been lucky in Stanley yet," she thinks. After the couple spend a boozy night celebrating Rudy's clean bill of health, Arlene nurses a hangover and revisits her old stomping grounds. In the process, she encounters the house of her first marriage under reconstruction, a changed menu at her favorite diner, and the high school where she used to teach. Ghosts from her previous life dance before her—an abusive husband, a distanced lover, a best friend lost. In the afternoon, Rudy sweeps her off to Jardin Descanso, the new subdivision, hoping to convince Arlene that built-in vacuuming systems and Berber carpets will mend old wounds. Arlene's final decision is shaky, fraught with both insecurity and love, and demonstrates Evans's ability to capture the nuances of human relationships and their fault lines. (Oct.)
