The Transformation of Things

September 27, 2010
While Jennifer Levenworth is getting her hair done at a beauty salon, her husband, Will, the Deerfield, Pa., district attorney, appears on television. There have been charges of bribery, the anchorman announces, and by the time Jennifer gets home, Will has left his office to strike a plea bargain in the hopes of avoiding jail time, and Jennifer's perfect life—well-appointed home, weekly tennis game, country club membership—has fallen apart. She returns to Philadelphia and tries to win back her old job and her old friend, Kat, a working mother who Jennifer discarded when she decamped for Deerfield. But neither her old life nor her new one feel right; her marriage is seriously wobbling and her family no longer understands her. Will is silent and evasive; Jennifer and her father aren't talking; and Jennifer's sister is too busy with her own children to offer solace. Worse, when Jennifer goes to sleep, her dreams seem all too real. Cantor creates convincing, likable characters, but unfortunately sacrifices their development for an implausible twist near the end that may leave readers wishing Jennifer had never entered that beauty salon in the first place.

September 1, 2010
Jen Levenworth is in a beauty salon when she hears the news that her husband, Will, a handsome young judge, has been indicted on bribery charges. Suddenly, Jens life in their affluent suburb is turned on its head. Her snooty friends will no longer play tennis with her, and she has been kicked off the committee for the charity auction she started. Will takes a plea bargain and is permanently disbarred, and Jen has to turn to her older sister, Kelly, to ask if her husband, Dave, will offer Will a sales job at his landscaping company. To make matters worse, Will is pressing Jen to have a babya step she is not sure she is ready to take. Jen is also having bizarre dreams in which she finds herself living the lives of her friends and family, then is shocked at how these nighttime excursions end up mirroring reality. Jen isnt sure whether she is going insane or reacting to new herbs she has been taking. Cantor puts a unique spin on this tale of a woman in transition.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)