SUMMER LIGHT by Roxana Robinson (HarperPerennial:...

SUMMER LIGHT by Roxana Robinson (HarperPerennial: $8.95). The soft northern light of the Maine summer seems to infuse this impressive first novel. Laura, the central character, finds her life has reached an impasse. She balks at divorcing the husband she left but can’t face the prospect of marrying the man she now lives with; she busies herself with minor, maternal duties, caring for the son from her abandoned marriage, rather than pursuing her career as a photographer. The unexpected arrival of her not-quite-ex-husband at the old summer house her new lover has rented on the Maine coast engenders a series of conflicts that enables Laura to bring her life into focus. Although the ending of “Summer Light” seems a bit pat, Robinson skillfully describes the indecision and fear of the men and women born at the cusp of the Baby Boom. Too young to have participated in the ‘60s counterculture, but too old for the amoral consumerism of the ‘80s, Laura cherishes her neuroses like badges of honor.