The Morgan Women

An assortment of dynamic, willful characters ranging from noble to despicable render Byrne's ( A Matter of Time ) latest novel a satisfying tale about two generations of a Boston doctor's family. Emma, wife of gynecologist Joshua Morgan, finds the leisurely existence of a ``Boston lady'' unfulfilling. She takes a clerical job with chemist Celia Howard and through her influence g comes to actively, though secretly, support Margaret Sanger's illegal work in birth control. Emma's employment and Joshua's ambivalence toward it, as well as their first child's death and Joshua's philandering, strain the marriage, but it endures as their surviving children become physicians and face their own challenges. Gentle Caleb wins a beautiful, cultured wife who makes his life a misery. Daniel, the family scamp, turns his medical skills to ends that could bring him under legal scrutiny. Jessica takes up her mother's interest in contraception. Since the plot maintains a realistic flavor, and effectively articulates its pro-choice stance on women's reproductive issues, it is disappointing that Byrne rounds out the final conflict with the hackneyed gimmick of a kidnapping. (Aug.)