The Oakdale Dinner Club

Mary Ann MacAllister, now Mrs. Gray, and Alice Maeda, once connected by an ephemeral telepathic link, have followed quite different life paths, both in their way equally unsatisfactory; Alice chose a sequence of lovers but no husband and as a consequence she finds herself struggling with motherhood alone, while Mary Ann opted to become a very proper housewife, consigning herself to a flawed marriage to a wealthy philanderer. Deciding that what is good for the gander is good for the goose, Mary Ann arranges a dinner party to which she invites the men she believes might make good lovers, with Alice as a bemused observer. The consequences of the dinner will transform both their lives, as well as the other guests at the party. Under the author's deft pen, her small community comes to life; her plot weaves back and forth through time with skill, and while the narrative purpose of the paranormal element of the plot seems obscure, Moritsugu's prose is so deft and her characters so entrancing this scarcely matters. Readers familiar with the author's previous novels (The Glenwood Treasure) will find this equally skillful. Agent: Margaret Hart, Humber Literary Agency. (June)