Mary Burchell

Second Marriage, Frederick Barthelme's first novel, follows on the heels of Moon Deluxe, his acclaimed collection of stories, and is certain to enhance Barthelme's reputation as one of the most accomplished writers of his generation. As Margaret Atwood wrote in The New York Times Book Review in her front-page review of his work, "It is impossible to conceive of any writer doing what he does better than he does it." The novel tells the story of the marriage between Henry and Theo-her first, his second-of their life together, their separation, and the events that ensure. Set in typical Barthelme territory-the new South of suburban communities, clipped lawns, busy shopping centers, fast-food drive-ins, and backyard swimming pools-Second Marriage displays the cool, affectionate observation of place and character and the command of craft that have distinguished Barthelme's previous fiction. The story begins with Henry's first wife Clare, in flight from her present life, moves in with Henry and Thea. The new arrangement has its peculiar effects. Theo doesn't want to be married anymore. Henry does-and is willing to take his chances waiting. And wait he must, through a series of quirky, comic, and sometimes painful events that immerse the reader in a world of familiar yet slightly bewildering pleasures and sorrows before the trajectory of the novel turns homeward. Second Marriage celebrates the strangeness and excitement of the everyday. "What Barthelme does best is precisely what fiction should do." writes the Texas Monthly. "He makes the familiar seems strange and the strange seem familiar." Written with the intimate knowledge and wry affection that characterize his stories, the novel exhibits a new command and depth of insight that mark an important step in Barthelme's career. Second Marriage is sharp, funny, odd and turns perplexing and heartbreaking. It is a joy to read. Barthelme's first novel is the most intriguing work to date by this brilliant American writer.

Masquerade in Madrid With her dying breath Ventura's mother had said, "Go to Madrid," and Ventura knew that, somehow, her destiny lay in that city. She dared to travel as page to the English Lord Lynke who was on his way to an arranged marriage with Dona, one of the richest women in Spain. Little did he know that she is the most beautiful, promiscuous and ruthless women in Mandrid! Lord Lynke himself was fooled by the masquerade until a midnight attempt on Ventura's life drove her into his arms for protection. Her masquerade was over. If she were aver to reveal her growing love for him, she must learn the secret of her birth--the secret that lay somewhere in the Spanish capital.

Nicola had everything in life to look forward to, when the brilliant young musician Brian Coverdale implied that he would be asking her to marry him as soon as he returned from his tour to Canada. But Brian never came back; and Nicola's life was shattered when she learned that he had died suddenly. She was fortunate to be offered a post just then as secretary to a world-famous opera singer, for such a fascinating job would certainly help her to take her mind off her troubles, and introduce her to a new world of music and interesting people. But almost the first thing it did was bring Nicola into contact with the one man in the world she least wanted to meet - the man who had been responsible for Brian's death.

Take Me with You Leoni had left the orphanage to Iive with the Dagram family while working in London. It was a warm and wonderful place. But Leoni wanted a home of her own—with Lucas Morrion. Only Lucas wasn't free to marry her! (#956) Choose Which You Will As companion to old Mrs. Mayhew, Harriet Denby expected a quiet country life. Instead she became involved in a dramatic family tangle. Her future happiness was threatened by blackmail and a plot to deceive the man she secretly loved. (#1029) Meant for Each Other Unwanted by her glamorous actress-cousin, Geraldine, Thea accepted help from her producer, Lindsay Varlon. Was he really the attractive scoundrel his reputation implied, or Thea's best friend? Only when likable, ordinary Stephen Dorley came on the scene, did Thea find the answer. (#1052)

The scheme would be of mutual benefit. When Jason Kent literally crashed into Virginia's life, he turned her whole world upside down. In return for a large sum of money, he asked her to pose as his mistress so that his wife would divorce him. Virginia agreed because it meant she could finance her younger brother's artistic career. But would she have been so willing if she had known the full impact Jason Kent would have on her life?

The impoverished Greeve family used to say in moments of financial crisis, 'There's always Great-Aunt Tabitha' — thinking of the fortune which the very old lady was due to leave them. The one exception was Leslie Greeve, for whom the future meant only Oliver Bendick — the man it was generally agreed she would one day marry. But when Great-Aunt Tabitha did considerately die, the way ahead was not so simple as it had seemed. Into their lives (not least Leslie's) burst Reid Carthay, self-confident, cynical, a disturbing stranger with power to affect all the members of the Greeve family without exception...

Juliet knew it was foolish giving up her life in England and flying to Australia with her newfound relatives, but the thought of being with her fiancé sooner than planned made her feel it was the right choice. When she arrived to the heartbreak of learning that Martin no longer loved her, Max Ormathin was extremely kind and helpful. But that didn't mean anything. Max was engaged to Juliet's cousin, Verity.

Felicity had not liked Stephen Tarkman of the Tarkman Musical Foundation when she had once sat next to him at a dinner party. He had the air, she felt, of a man who wields power and enjoys the fact – and she had rather made plain her dislike. Then she found she must go to Stephen and try to persuade him to accept one of her pupils for the Foundation.

You may think you're in possesion,' said Marcia when she heard of her cousin Teresa's engagement to Elliott Burdern, 'but I can end all that when I like. Will you give him up quietly? Or will you put me to the small trouble of taking him from you?' It was true that Elliott's proposal had been an unorthodox one. It was true that his uncle's eccentrie will had drastcally limited his choice. Still, within those limits he had chosen Teresa and not Marcia, and now Teresa knew that she had no intention of retreating. And so began a struggle that was to be harder than either she or Marcia anticipated.

Difficulties were meant to be overcome. Little did Amanda realize the full meaning of Jerome Leydon's words, although she had taken the famous composer's advice and sought lessons from the gifted Dr. Lewis Elsworth. Lewis had been patiently training her voice for several years. But Jerome wanted instant success for Amanda -- a course Lewis had firmly forbidden. And Amanda needed money desperately. Should she forsake talent for money -- follow her mind of her heart?

It was for a heartbreaking reason - the urgent necessity to get money to send her invalid father to a warmer climate - that Vicki had tricked Christopher Kentone into marrying her; nevertheless, she had tricked him, and when Christopher found out, soon after the marriage, he was not unnaturally furious and disgusted with her. As luck would have it, Vicki had by this time fallen genuinely in love with her husband. But what could she do in the face of his suspicion, and the added complication of a glamorous opera singer, with whom Christopher had always been infatuated, and who now declared her intention of once more taking the first place in his life?

The Guarded Gates The assignment in Spain was a challenge and Dionis was assured by her sister that her new fiance had the authority to make changes on behalf of the owner. But Don Juan Vicente de Velez y Stebelo knew nothing of the plans to redecorate his villa, as Dionis discovered at their first, eventful meeting. Pay Me Tomorrow Ismay had gone to see Keith Otterbury on a matter pertaining to her sister when he made his preposterous offer. The little she had heard of him hadn't been good, so his offer of marriage to save her family from financial disaster had to be regarded with suspicion. But did she really have any choice in the matter? The Darling Pirate Escaping the unwanted attentions of a suitor, Maggie Jefferson left London for a position in Jersey, in one of the island's luxury hotels. The first person she met was Alain Hautger, who enjoyed a vagabond existence in spite of the earnest efforts of others to reform him. But was he really as carefree as he seemed?

Three months of luxury, at an exclusive seaside resort, and all at Aunt Gabrielle's expense! Elaine would indeed have considered herself lucky, had there not been one very, very delicate condition attached to the situation -- a condition on which her whole future depended. She held out no great hopes that she would succeed, but what was to become of her if she did not?

"Just pretend that the man you wish to marry is standing before you," the famous designer Florian instructed Anthea as she waited to model the wedding dress in the grand finale of his Paris Spring Collection. But the man Anthea wished to marry was out there in the salon - with the woman who had taken Anthea's place as his future bride.

When Antonia agreed to go as secretary-companion to her unknown Aunt Harriet, she did not take very seriously the promise that she would be made the old lady's heiress. She was startled, therefore, when on arrival she found that the estate was a considerable one and that there was a dispossessed nephew in the person of her attractive cousin, Giles, who had quarreled with their aunt over his engagement to Vanessa. Characteristically, Antonia set herself to reconcile aunt and nephew, and in doing so uncovered some very strange fragments of family history. She found something else too - her own conviction that Vanessa was not the right girl for Giles.

Can a man fall in love with a painting? The girl in the blue dress was in a portrait that Franklin Lowell had owned and admired for years. And when, at last, he met the original model for the picture, it seemed to be too late. Not only was she in love with the artist who had painted her, but Franklin himself was engaged to another woman.

The great conductor Oscar Warrender had no idea that his efficient new secretary Kate Grayson was in fact his niece, who really wanted to be a singer but didn't want to take advantage of her famous relative. Which was partly how it happened that instead Kate found herself taken firmly under the wing of the celebrated singer Carlo Ertlinger, who set about making all kinds of changes in her life. But Kate's real troubles only began when the writer Van Merton discovered her identity!

To Antonia, drama was something that happened to other people - until the day when the pleasant prosperity she had always known was abruptly swept away, and she had to face the appalling fact that her own father was a criminal. She felt that the only thing she could do in the circumstances was to leave home and make a new life for herself - and that was how she came to know the impressive, magnificent but faintly mysterious Maximilian Shaw, who gave her a job but then swept her, willy-nilly, into a series of adventures that neither of them could have foreseen.

To leave London for a remote Northumbrian village may sound like a descent into dullness; but Veronica Benley found it quite the reverse. An only child, she was enchanted by life with the Elveys —a large family, gay and affectionate, who joyously accepted her as one of themselves. Then came romance—and for a time it seemed as if the claims of love were in conflict with those of the friends who had come to depend on her. Could she possibly take her own happiness at the expense of theirs?