THE HEARTS AND LIVES OF MEN ...

THE HEARTS AND LIVES OF MEN by Fay Weldon (Viking: $28.95 ; 357 pp.) A grown-up fairy tale. Little Nell is a love child in the genuine sense of the word, conceived at the first glance exchanged by her parents at a party in 1960s London.--Alan Bell

POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF A LIVING AUTHOR by Robert Musil, translated by Peter Wortsman (Eridanos Press: $21; 145 pp.) The first publication of these masterful, incisive pieces is surely one of the brightest and most welcome moments of the spring publishing season.--Scott Mahler