Only Children

With insight and candor, Yglesias recounts five years in the lives of two yuppie couples, to whom parenthood occasions typical tribulations and discouraging self-assessments. Byron's birth exacerbates the problems between Diane and Peter Hummel (she's a Yale-educated corporate lawyer, he's a wealthy fundraiser for the arts). While she foolishly tries to be super-mom, wife and professional, she also puts pressure on Byron to excel, attempting to enroll him in an elite school and forcing him to play the violin. Peter withdraws from them both after Byron's presence activates long-dormant memories of his icily aloof mother. Investment counselor Eric Gold, obsessed by the humiliation of his father's business failures, frantically pushes himself to produce substantial earnings for his wife Nina and their son Luke. Her imagined inadequacies torment Nina, especially when she cannot soothe Luke, whose colic makes him infuriatingly uncontrollable. This is a vivid description of how rearing a first child can conjure up neurotic fears, which must be resolved before parents can nurture their offspring. Yglesias has abandoned the cynicism that infused Hot Properties; this new novel is deeply felt and thought-provoking. $75,000 ad/promo; Doubleday Book Club main selection; Literary Guild featured alternate. (May)