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Cara Saylor Polk. St. Martin's Press, $17.95 (359pp) ISBN 978-0-312-40916-6

The future mapped out by her domineering boyfriend Roger seems overwhelmingly stuffy to Marlena Williams. Instead of settling down with him, she accepts a position at a small TV news station in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Hard work in the ranks brings quick rewards, and her marriage to a newsman twice her age is initially satisfying. When he tries to hold her back professionally, however, Marlena gamely leapfrogs to prestigious anchor slots in Philadelphia and Chicago, then to her own talk show. En route, her marriage dissolves, a love affair with an amiable lawyer is sabotaged by a colleague, and a darker, more obsessive dependence on a shady politician is also scotched. Just when it seems that a Faustian balance has been struck between her flourishing career and her ill-starred romances, fate brings both Roger and the lawyer back into her orbit. This warmhearted novel takes some liberties where credibility is concerned, but Polk (Her Mother's Daughter skillfully draws the reader into a group of beguiling characters. (March 31)