THE FIREMAN’S WIFE <i> by Richard Bausch (Norton: $8.95).</i>

In his short stories, Bausch depicts an emotionally bleak world, where people strive for love, acceptance and forgiveness. In the title story, a young woman realizes how weary she’s grown of her husband, who seems as flat and featureless as the Midwestern landscape. She can’t bring herself to leave him after an accident at a fire leaves him temporarily helpless, but neither can she find the love needed to rebuild their shared life. In the related story, “Consolation,” the widow of another fireman killed in the accident receives the comfort and acceptance from her in-laws she sought--and was denied--while her husband was alive. “Letter to the Lady of the House” closes the collection on a gently elegiac note, as an aging man attempts to explain to his wife how his love for her transcends the petty grievances of the life they’ve shared.