Layover

Claire Newbold is not your typical heroine. Smart and sexy, yes, but she's also been known to sneak into a hotel room or two without paying, seduce a teenager in wet bathing trunks, and just check out of things altogether--like her job. And her marriage. No wonder, though. Claire's been careening off heartbreak. Her only child has died, she may be infertile, and her husband has had an affair.

No longer a mother, not sure she wants to be a wife, Claire moves from hotel to hotel, basking in the anonymity of travel and forbidden sex. She even comes to believe she is clairvoyant, able to "read" into the souls of others. Eventually she begins to see into her own soul as she ponders whether or not to return home. As she struggles to repair her marriage and her life, Claire surprises herself -- and us -- by emerging with a new sense of redemption.

 

Lisa Zeidner is the author of four novels and two poetry collections--one of which, Pocket Sundial, won the Brittingham Prize. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in many publications, including GQ and the New York Times. She is a professor at Rutgers University and lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.

Jean Strouse won the Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy for her biography Alice James. She lives in New York City.