HOME OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS

In Larkin's charming latest (after The People We Keep), a 30-something woman forges an unexpected bond with her teenage niece. Freya, a bartender in coastal Maine, returns to her hometown in the Hudson Valley after her parents die in a car accident, having inherited the ramshackle house she grew up in. She's surprised to find her troubled niece Aubrey, 15, secretly living in the house. The reason at first seems to be teenage rebellion, but the troubling truth is gradually revealed, along with Freya's fraught history with her sister, Steena, who is Aubrey's mother, and with Steena's scummy husband, Charlie. Freya gets a job at a local inn and reconnects with old friends, who, along with Aubrey, help her repair the house. While the storytelling is simplistic--Steena, Charlie, and the sisters' late mother are dastardly, while those on Freya and Aubrey's side are correspondingly good-hearted--Larkin explores with tenderness and nuance the strong yet complicated relationship between her protagonists, and successfully uses the details of home repair as a metaphor for the rebuilding of Freya's and Aubrey's lives. It's a cozy tale of new beginnings. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (May)