A GLIMPSE OF SCARLET AND OTHER STORIES...

A GLIMPSE OF SCARLET AND OTHER STORIES by Roxana Robinson (HarperPerennial: $10). A compelling sense of urgency distinguishes these accounts of marital problems among the members of New York’s upper classes. Superficially, Robinson’s characters have everything--money, status, careers, chicte --but their glamorous facades conceal frightened little weaklings who struggle with second marriages, divorces, custody battles and foundering relationships. In the title story, a fleeting glimpse of a red sleeve suggests an adulterous relationship to the narrator, and leads her to reflect on the insecurities and mistrust that plague her own marriage. As the character in another story watches her second husband fight with his daughter, she observes, “Second chances, that’s all we can hope for, and when we find them, grab.”