Silver

Complete in itself, Silver is also a sequel to In the Flesh (1977), the novel about Paulie Flax's battle to win her husband Howie away from a seductive neighbor, Marie. Wolitzer catches up with the couple years later, in a Long Island suburb, several months before their 25th anniversary. Their children have left the nest, which is Paulie's ambition for herself. Disinterest now, instead of the once ``murderous love'' she felt for Howie, urges her to make the break, as does the blandness of their community. Secretly, she plans to leave and resume her interrupted education in Manhattan, where Paulie believes she truly belongs. But Howie suffers a heart attack and dutiful Paulie stays to nurse him until she finds he has a new inamorata, Janine. ``I already gave her up!'' Howie pleads in vain, but Paulie is off to the Big Apple on the next train. In ensuing chapters, husband and wife take turns telling their stories. It is a measure of the author's skill that we cheer equally for bereft Howie and gloriously liberated Paulie. Wolitzer is unbeatable at explaining why New Yorkers love New York. She is also superb at proving that so-called unremarkable lives can make fascinating narratives. In this suspenseful, wildly funny and deeply moving novel, we are avid to find out what happens to all the indisputably human friends of Paulie and Howie, and mostly of course, what happens to them. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; $150,000 paperback floor; film rights to ABC-TV; Literary Guild selection. (July)