Stegner (Undertow
; Fata Morgana
) follows the tragic arc of Kate Riley, whose lifetime of self-destructive behavior takes her from rural Canada to a seaside cottage in northern California with plenty of gloomy pit stops along the way. Born in 1931 in Netherfield, Saskatchewan, Kate is her daddy's little girl, but he dies of cancer when she is 10. Before she turns 18, Kate flees her egotistical mother and the cruel prairie life for Vancouver, where she gets pregnant, gives up her baby girl for adoption and attempts suicide. She marries the older, affluent hotel owner Gregor Vancleve and has a son with him, but when Gregor's "vigor" fades, Kate has quickie affairs until Gregor divorces her. Similar behavioral patterns haunt Kate's subsequent moves to Seattle, San Francisco and Monterey. Alluring and gorgeous, Kate manipulates and seduces to get by and manically obsesses over her health and weight. Kate's downward spiral is undoubtedly grim, but Stegner punctuates it with muted hints of redemption; the result is uncommonly satisfying. (Apr.)
