AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN

An unexpected sixth novel in Fast's Immigrants saga, issued 12 years after the fifth (and supposedly final) installment, The Immigrant's Daughter (1985). Once again, the protagonist is Barbara Lavette, now 68 and the matriarch of a large and successful California clan. Barbara has always been the archetypal activist (having been, variously, a labor organizer in the 1930s, an adventurous reporter in the 1940s, a defiant victim of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, and a vigorous supporter of the struggles of blacks and women for equal rights, as well as an opponent of the Vietnam War), and this time out she takes on the case of a young black man she believes has been unfairly treated by the police. She also, to the astonishment of her friends and family, marries again. But her continuing battles for justice, and her honeymoon, are cut short by the news that she has developed cancer. Not much happens here—there are a good many amiable meals, fond chat between family members, a discreet courtship, and the name-dropping and walk-ons by the famous that have always been a part of the series—and the ending would seem to suggest that this really is the conclusion of the saga. A muted, somewhat puzzling, addenda to a lively (and successful) series. (First printing of 100,000)