Fiction

Here the residents of Backman's isolated Swedish town, with some new additions, resume their lives where they left off at the end of the earlier novel. Since the history of each individual is examined and outlined in turn, new readers can catch up quickly. Martin is an outsider at his posh Jewish prep school; his dad made his fortune in scrap metal, while other students are heirs to gold and diamond mines. VERDICT The later versions of Leda lack the intensity of the obsessed teen years, and the novel depends too heavily on readers relating to Leda. [...]the story's structure offers a particular Western idea of women's life span that may ring false for some audiences, though others will find it familiar and approachable.--Pamela Mann, St. Mary's Coll. F Review by Elizabeth Safford Award-winning novelist Dybek (When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man ) centers his second novel on the love story between two Americans who meet in France just after World War I. Sarah is searching for her husband, who vanished from his division during the war.