Taking Shelter - Hardcover

Readers who have not discovered Australian writer Anderson ( The Only Daughter ) should do so with this new novel, an engaging story of young love in a culture of changing sexual mores, when "general promiscuity" has given way to prudence regarding AIDS. Shy, meek Beth Jeams is courted by suave Miles Ligard, coming under the sway of his charming but controlling personality and "unrelenting critical spirit." She enjoys being part of his "group," which includes his 68-year-old cousin, twice-divorced Juliet, who turns out to be this book's most enchanting, memorable character. When Miles admits that he has been using Beth as a shield to disguise his homosexuality, she fatefully (or miraculously) re-encounters Marcus Pirie, a feckless underachiever as young as herself (both are 20), whom she had last seen 14 years earlier in a chance meeting in Rome. The appearance in Sydney of Marcus's mother, Nita, who has left her philandering husband and moves in with the couple, adds a complication to a situation already dicey due to Beth's pregnancy. But tart, quirky Juliet, whose tough exterior protects a sentimental heart, solves this and other problems with her tactful generosity. Juliet's reward comes in the novel's last page, when her dreams and reality suddenly coincide. Anderson conveys this heartwarming story in an oblique but witty style, scattering insights and surprises throughout.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This novel chronicles relationships among a community of friends and family in contemporary Sydney. Twenty-year-old Beth Jeams stumbles from an unfulfilling romance with a questionably celibate bisexual into a passionate affair with a young man whom she had met as a child on a visit to Rome. The charm of this coincidence and their affair ring true in the rather hollow corridors of this comedy of manners. While the author raises the question of sexuality in the age of AIDS, she does not satisfactorily resolve it. The characters are like figures in one of Beth's wall murals, more representative than real. Only Juliet McCracken, everyone's friend--aging and introspective, preoccupied with her dreams, yet at the center of things--emerges as both ministering angel and observer. Her sensitivity and brusque wit define the novel. By the author of The Only Daughter ( LJ 3/15/85) and Stories from the Warm Zone ( LJ 10/15/87).
- Mary Soete, San Diego P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.