The injured party

by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

This is an intense, chillingly sharp portrait of a woman at mid-life. Iris returns home from the hospital, where she has been treated for a fever of unknown origin, unable to talk to her devoted husband or her two adolescent children, unable to leave her bed. Her self-absorbed bout of depression is interrupted by the arrival of John, the long-lost lover of her youth, who has decided to spend the last months of his life (he's terminally ill) with Iris and her family. Patient, tolerant husband Mike agrees with little protest, observing John's positive effect on Iris. The inner workings of the family-plus-stranger setup are wonderfully precise, and the psychological changes of middle age are rendered especially vivid in this complex heroine. Recommended for most fiction collections. Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.