FOUR CORNERS

Like many of our most beloved novels, Freund's poignant debut is narrated from a child's perspective, that of 10-year-old Lorraine Dougherty, or Rainey, as she's called. Rainey's shoulder-high view of the world is sensuous and innocent, and like most young narrators, she is navigating a world she barely comprehends. Set near New York's Finger Lakes in 1953, the novel tells the story of the year Rainey's mother went crazy and her aunt Merle came up from the Bronx to help Rainey's father look after his five children. Merle is everything Rainey's mother is not—sarcastic, threatening, sexy. Merle's two children, Joan and Wayne, are also older, meaner and more sophisticated than their country cousins, and the seven children are alternately cruel and loving to each other. From time to time, Merle's husband comes up from the Bronx for the chance to slap his wife around, while Rainey's father, Andy, makes a 120-mile trip twice a week to see his wife in the hospital, doing what he can to hasten her recovery. Adding to the family tumult, Merle and Joan attract the attention of the neighbors, Eddie Birdseye and his son, Harold, who hover like flies around the Dougherty farm. Freund renders these characters with great compassion. Particularly touching are Rainey's father, the sort of man who is awakened at night by his children's sorrow, and Rainey herself, who never recognizes her peril. The child's point of view may not satisfy all readers, as some parts of the story must remain obscure. But Freund often uses Rainey's limited perception to brilliant effect, as when the narrator watches shooting stars while her cousin describes what neither of them knows is statutory rape. These moments simply glow, and they are the reason to read this tender novel. Agent, Deborah Grosvenor.(Sept.)