SECOND WIVES

The fourth novel but first to appear here by Blake, an American living in London, is a witty, spirited romp through that troubled terrain where stepchildren and first wives exact their revenge on second wives. The four Preston sisters, Meg, Beth, Amy, and Leonora, have supported one another from the start. Although she died when Leonora was only eight, their mother Victoria had never really been there for her daughters. Grieving over the death of firstborn Steven, Victoria’s behavior became increasingly bizarre as the girls grew older. One memorable time she abandoned them in a store because she imagined she saw Steven, and they were rescued by a young man named Stuart, whom Beth has never forgotten. They all live now in Boston but are estranged from their wealthy father Mark, whom they blame for their mother’s death. As the story begins, the sisters are worried about Leonora, who, still a student, wants to marry older and separated Nick. Though she’s the eldest, Meg (whose husband Charles is gunning for the presidency of Harvard) still defers to Beth, a therapist whose energy and decisiveness make her the family leader. After a failed marriage to charming but unreliable Patrick, Amy, convinced she’s boring, is married to solid Jimmy. As Meg tries to cope with Charles, his ex-wife, and his two sons, Beth learns that their long-ago rescuer Stuart is back in town. Amy, jealous of Jimmy’s first wife, is tempted to get back with Patrick, and Lenora learns that Nick’s wife Jackie is not going give him up easily. The drama is ratcheted up when the sisters learn the horrifying truth about Victoria’s death. But the Preston sisters are strong, and family ties, a new love, and a decision by one sister to end a bad marriage bring agreeable resolutions to a page-turner of a story. A literate and bracing take on subjects that more often are maudlin wallows in self-pity and recrimination.