THE NAVIGATION LOG

A "navigation log," the epigraph to this debut novel explains, is the record of a flight; it should contain "no unnecessary information," but only a "clear and accurate" accounting. This might be a description of Corrick's novel itself, which, despite occasional flights of fancy and frequent lacings of Tennyson and Blake, is written in neat, spare, elegant prose. William and Tom Anderson, identical twins, are a surprise to their parents when they are born on the eve of the 1918 armistice in a neighborhood of north London. Their mother, Constance, an introverted, reclusive painter, immediately reacts by planning a second pregnancy, and thereafter devotes herself entirely to Stella, the twins' sister. Their father, Felix, a lay minister and postal official, indifferently turns the rearing of the boys over to Millie, his housekeeper and lover. The boys' antics unfold over the next 20 years without significant incident. Tom enters the RAF and becomes an intrepid Spitfire pilot as WWII breaks out; William somehow avoids military service and seeks an apprenticeship in an unorthodox school run by an eccentric philosopher named Masterman. Both boys find true love, although only one relationship is fulfilled. Their parents fade into the novel's background, as do two spinsterish neighbors whose observations and commentaries are highly amusing. Carefully crafted in the manner of Waugh and Maugham, the novel eschews conflict and drama for precise, factual narration. Corrick sometimes stints on character development as well—the twins are rather thin creations—but even so, the novel is curiously compelling, easy to read, and rich with period ambience and dry wit. If Corrick's purpose was to construct a kaleidoscopic picture of a wartime generation through the seemingly aimless trajectory of particular lives, he has succeeded well. (Apr.)