The Sugar Mother

Elizabeth Jolley. HarperCollins Publishers, $7.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-06-091588-9

Edwin is a middle-aged literature professor whose wife, Cecilia, on a European sabbatical, leaves him in the care of their circle of friends, a group of gently swinging couples. ``The sheer fun of Jolley's writing and her lighthearted yet serious lesson that not even the old are predictable make this a pleasure to read,'' praised PW . (June)

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