WITHIN THE RIBBONS <i> by Frank Manley (North Point Press: $16.95; 256 pp.) </i>

” Manley. . . has a fine eye for detail and a sharp ear for dialogue. He has created people trapped in the skin of old lives; mired in the indescribable misery of failed marriages and we watch as they seek deliverance by unlikley routes. They engage in bruising battles with unpeaceful memories that gnaw at the core of self. They cannot outmaneuver them, yet they cannot quite come to terms so they keep trying ways that make these stories, rich in the nuance of Southern experience, memorable indeed.