Stella Landry

In this deeply affecting novel, McCorquodale ( Dansville ) writes in the indelible voice of a young Texas woman of mid-century who gradually reveals a girlhood consisting of sorrow, cruel betrayals and a few carefully treasured moments of joy. Introduced when she is 20 and working as a waitress in a Fort Worth luncheonette, the determinedly solitary Stella Landry is wooed and won by young Jim Lester against all her expectations. Her cherished life with him and their baby Darrell in the small neighboring town is threatened by an acquaintance from her past. McCorquodale flawlessly blends Stella's past into her unfolding present; we learn that she was abandoned in a central Texas motel as a baby and raised by Joylin and Doc Landry, whose love nurtured and sustained her until Doc's drinking and failing business schemes led to Joylin's departure and a drastic, unremitting downhill turn for adolescent Stella. The author relates the horrifying circumstances of Stella's life before she meets Jim (and later) in subtle, utterly credible and deeply moving prose. In her sure telling, Stella's encounter with her past and her embrace of her losses and her future make an irresistible story with an unforgettable heroine. Literary Guild alternate; paperback rights to Avon. (Aug.)