This Old Spouse     

Cornelia Nixon. Angels Go Naked. 2000.

A collection of unrelated vignettes that tell of violinist Margy Rose, from her adolescence in Boston, through her stormy relationship with marine biologist and perpetual student Webster. Both Margy and Webster are given to mistrust and jealousy, and she wants a child while he does not. The final chapter hints at a newfound maturity and hope for a better future for the two of them.

Robert Morgan. The Truest Pleasure. 1995.

Ginny and Tom, who live in the mountains of North Carolina, marry for mutual convenience: she needs someone to manage her father’s land and he has a need to farm land he can eventually call his own. But conflict arises when Ginny is drawn to the ecstasies of the “holy rollers”, who speak in tongues, of whom Tom, a workaholic, disapproves. A moving novel about a time, place and people far removed from contemporary life.

Kristin Hannah. Angel Falls. 2000.

Mikaela Campbell hits her head while training a horse and ends up in a coma. Her husband Liam has to hold their family together while praying for his wife’s recovery. Then he discovers that Mikaela was married before to Julian True, international celebrity heartthrob and millionaire movie star. Liam must now decide if he loves his wife enough to risk losing her by finding out if Julian’s presence can awaken her from her coma.

Lisa Huang Fleischman. Dream Of The Walled City. 2000.

Born in 1890 into an upper-class family, Jade Virtue lives through China’s great political events and social changes. Jade’s privileged childhood ends with the death of her father, and she marries a man who turns out to be both abusive and a heroin addict. To put food on the table, Jade becomes a teacher at a girls’ school and, after her husband’s death, remarries more happily and builds a family and home. This novel gives a very real sense of China’s complicated and tumultuous history during the first half of the twentieth century.

David Carkeet. The Full Catastrophe. 1990.

Jeremy Cook works for the Pillow Agency, a zany marriage-counseling service. His assignment is to move in with Beth and Dan Wilson and, by observing their interactions, help them decide if their marriage can be saved. His relationship with the couple and their 10-year-old son is at once intimate and distant. Laugh-out-loud scenes and fast-moving dialogue mark this lunatic look at serious issues.

Lisa Gardner. The Perfect Husband. 1998.

Jim Beckett was everything she had ever dreamed of. But two years after Tess married the decorated cop and bore his child, she helped put him behind bars for savagely murdering ten women. Even locked up in a maximum-security prison, he vowed he would come after her and make her pay. Now the killer has escaped and the most dangerous game of all begins.

Mary Hood. Familiar Heat. 1995.

When a brutal accident leaves young Faye Perry with permanent amnesia, her new husband, Vic, reverts to his old ways, leading to an estrangement that seems irreparable. But Faye and Vic live in a world where both love and memory can perish and come back to life in wonderful, unexpected ways.

Yeshayahu Koren. Funeral At Noon. 1999.

A bored, restless and childless young housewife, seeking an escape from her closed existence, embarks on a brief love affair with a soldier she encounters in an abandoned Arab village. This decision has a profound impact on her life and her small 1950’s Israeli town.

Gloria Nagy. Marriage. 1995.

After 23 years of happy marriage, several things happen to Michael and Annie Wilder. Michael embarks on a love affair, Annie’s father dies, their best friend runs off with all of their money, their son is unhappy in college, their daughter wants to marry a man who lives in Australia and their dog dies. Needless to say, these events put a strain on the marriage.

Compiled by Karen F. Barron 9/01