THREE STAGES OF AMAZEMENT

High-octane melodrama from Edgarian (Rise the Euphrates, 1994) about a married couple whose brilliance, beauty and nobility are no safeguard against personal and societal woes during the first year of the Obama presidency.

Former PBS producer Lena Rusch has moved back to her hometown of San Francisco with her husband Charlie Pepper, a working-class Boston boy turned Harvard-trained surgeon/idealistic entrepreneur, and their precocious preschool son Theo. These almost saintly protagonists have been disgustingly happy together, but by the time the novel opens, shortly after the inauguration, life has already started to fall apart. Eleven months ago Lena gave birth to twin girls. One died immediately, and the survivor, Willa, has been in and out of the hospital ever since, her physical and developmental future still uncertain. Lena is exhausted, and she can’t count on much help from Charlie, who is jetting around the country desperately promoting the robotic surgery technique he has developed that could change medicine. Unfortunately start-up money has dried up. Then Cal Rusch, Lena’s extremely wealthy but estranged uncle, offers his backing. Lena is furious when she finds out, especially since Charlie doesn’t tell her himself. Instead, the news comes from Allesandro, Lena’s dashing former lover, who now works with Cal. Days after Cal and his socialite wife Ivy—think Nancy Reagan as a democrat—throw a million-dollar bash attended by Charlie and Lena, their lives fall apart too. Not only does Cal face mutiny in his company, both he and Ivy are struck down by fast-acting terminal cancers. Meanwhile, Charlie’s financial crisis keeps him too busy to pay adequate attention to his family. Feeling abandoned, Lena turns to Allesandro. Theo runs away and breaks his arm. Cal reveals a deep secret concerning Lena. Willa gets sick a few more times. Finally she learns to crawl, and her parents pull themselves together.

Theatrical hokum, but written with an assurance and energy that will appeal to readers looking for comfort and romantic role models during this difficult era.