Fiction Notes

Chicago priest Michael Enright debuts with Daisies in the Junkyard, a powerful and simply told story of two Latin American boys and their families trying to survive in South Chicago. Tony and Carlos are high school seniors who want nothing to do with the Knights or the Devils, rival gangs that plague their neighborhood. But they are given little choice when Carlos is injured in a drive-by shooting and his younger brother is murdered. Enright ably captures the experiences of the boys as they dodge bullets and dabble in spirituality as a means of survival in the direst of circumstances. National advertising. (Forge, $23.95 240p ISBN 0-765-30144-X)

Nine linked stories revolve around a beleaguered Maine paper-mill town in Ernie's Ark. Ernie Whitten is laid off three weeks before his retirement and constructs an ark in his backyard as a tribute to his dying wife, Marie. The CEO of the company that owns the mill takes a road trip with his estranged daughter and the results are both hilarious and harrowing. Monica Wood (My Only Story) does a remarkable job of illuminating the characters' inner lives—from disgruntled union workers to a flower store owner in a troubled marriage—skillfully layering their brief but complex stories with humor, empathy and melancholy. (Chronicle, $22.95 192p ISBN 0-8118-3461-1)

Brenda Jackson (One Special Moment) thrusts two women together during a 10-year high school reunion cruise in Perfect Timing. Maxine and Mya were best friends, but have drifted apart. Maxine's fiancé died just before their wedding and now she is facing having a hysterectomy; Mya is married to Garrett, a handsome football star. The women quickly patch up an old misunderstanding and commiserate over various on-board distractions including studly Christopher, with whom Maxine has to share a cabin, and Mya's growing insecurity about Garrett's fidelity back on land. The lackluster plot is all but buried under tedious exposition, monotonous sex scenes and laughably wooden dialogue. (Dafina, $24 304p ISBN 1-57566-921-8)