The smart, suspenseful U.S. debut of Brit Briscoe (Skin
; Mothers and Other Lovers
) begins between the sheets as 30-somethings Lelia and Richard unknowingly conceive a child before breathlessly skipping across town to a friend's Christmas party. Though Richard, a newspaper editor, and Lelia, an academic, struggle with their careers, their values and the question of marriage, they are content in their relationship and their future together. Enter Sylvie Lavigne, a nondescript friend of a friend, new to town, who suddenly, mysteriously appears at their every turn. Richard receives a series of unsettling anonymous e-mails, serialized snippets of a Victorian-style novel with macabre overtones. As Lelia's pregnancy advances, both Lelia and Richard discover that their domestic calm is bound up in a web of deceit, uncertainty and unresolved memories. Told from alternating points of view, the story follows the couple as they become consumed by their individual doubts and obsessions. Briscoe has a knack for rendering a contemporary, urban setting, and her characters are intelligent and psychologically insightful, believable even as the plot takes its most fantastical twists. (Oct.)
