MOVING TO THE COUNTRY

Jess Newman, budding interior designer, hopes to start a new life with her husband, Felix, in a quaint English village when their only daughter, Sophie, goes off to college at the start of this cozily predictable novel. But before Jess can apply a fresh coat of paint to her cottage walls, her self-centered, insecure husband starts an affair with his conniving office assistant, Hilary. Jess suspects something is amiss, but she can't be sure, so she throws herself into redecorating the house, goes back to school and strikes up a friendship with Rupert, a slightly mysterious bachelor who lives next door. There's more to distract her: her sister, Louisa, whom she hasn't seen in years, has recently come to town, as has Sophie, after dropping out of school and ending her affair with a married man. Though otherwise oblivious to Jess's needs and interests, Felix is miffed when she takes on her first client, a handsome doctor named Matthew, who is smitten with her and to whom she feels a growing attraction. Then, as if his affair with Hilary weren't enough, Felix has one with his business partner's wife. The answers to this overlong novel's questions (when is Jess going to wise up? what will she do about Matthew? why doesn't Rupert respond to Louisa's advances? why is Felix such an ass?) don't come as much of a surprise and the various tensions lead to confrontations that are resolved too tidily. But Cheska's writing has charm, and Jess is an easy heroine to root for. (Dec.)