cover image Second Chances

Second Chances

Elizabeth Gilchrist. Dell Publishing Company, $3.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-440-17665-7

Catherine Grey is happily laid-back until she falls in love with Chris, an aspiring comedian who is having an adulterous affair with his landlady, the ""Baltic Bombshell.'' Catherine then becomes distressed by Chris's growing problem with alcohol, while he in turn is put off by her refusal to do much with her life other than tend her flower garden. Eventually things come to a head and Catherine flees Los Angeles for the New Mexico desert, where she at last picks up the missing thread in her life. Gilchrist (Cheatin' Heart has filled her second novel with a rich assortment of endearingly quirky characters. Their offbeat antics underscore the message that in fiction as in life, there is more to being happy than just being in love. (April)