Temporary Insanity

Leslie Sara Carroll. Avon a, $13.95 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-06-056337-0

A string of rotten office jobs, unsympathetic superiors and leering co-workers drives unemployed actor Alice Finnegan wild in Temporary Insanity, a romance by Leslie Carroll, herself a temp worker and thespian. Alice-a single 30-something who lives with her retired showgirl grandmother-finally gets her big break when she auditions for a part in a play eerily reminiscent of her Irish immigrant family's own travails. Carroll's dramatic flair and peppy, earnest account of all-too-real office scenarios distinguish this spirited chick-lit offering.

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