STEPPING

by Nancy Thayer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 18, 1979

In this snugly confiding first novel, Thayer has placed her young mother in a nightmare of housewife purgatory--vast stretches of time alone with a four-year-old and two-year-old in a small gray apartment in icy gray Helsinki, Finland, thinking up games while staring at gray linoleum. Not surprisingly, Zelda Campbell, 34, ""a Methodist from Kansas"" like her history prof husband Charlie, begins to ponder exactly why she's where she is and not doing what she wants--which is teaching English at a university in New Hampshire. Zelda does adore her children even though they ""just want more of everything,"" and she does love Charlie in spite of years of dutifully tagging along (sacrificing her own career) as he has moved from post to post. (Also a wrenching problem: her off-and-on relationship with Charlie's daughters by a previous marriage, through twelve summers of hostility, affection, companionship, and cruelty.) But basically, even with all that love, Zelda in Helsinki is still miserable. . . and tempted to accept the bed (even marriage) offer of handsome English Department head Stephen Hunter from back home. Zelda ultimately refuses, so Stephen offers something much more marvelous than sex-a teaching job. And finally, joyfully packing for herself and the kids and with Charlie's blessing, Zelda has learned that loving has its ups and downs but it's more solid and right when one is independent. A tidy, lightweight confession, then, a notch or two above lady's-magazine fare, and sure to cheer housewives stuck in their own linoleum-and-sleet Helsinkis.

Pub Date: Jan. 18, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION