ARLINGTON PARK

Set over the course of a single rainy day, we follow Juliet, enraged at the victory of men over women in family life; Amanda, warding off thoughts of death with obsessive housework; Solly, who confronts her own buried femininity in the person of her Italian lodger; Maisie, despairing at the inevitability with which beauty is destroyed; and Christine, whose troubled, hilarious spirit presides over Arlington Park and the way of life it represents. Rachel Cusk''s sixth novel is her best yet. Full of compassion and wit, she writes about her characters'' domestic lives, their private thoughts and fears with great intelligence and insight.