GOOD FAITH

Joe Stratford, who sells nice houses in a beautiful place, and whose not very amicable divorce is over, is ready for his life to begin again. It is 1982, morning in America, and temptation is everywhere. And, as Marcus Burns (Joe''s new friend from New York) says, the old rules are ready to be broken, Marcus should know: he''s just quit his job with the tax man. But are his ideas about how to get rich - really rich - too big and risky for Joe? And what about the real estate development at Salt Key Farm: why is the local savings and loan so eager to lend Marcus and Joe the money for its asking price? And there''s Felicity - the daughter of Joe''s business partner - who has finally confessed how found she is of Joe. But, Joe wonders, is this winning, free-spirited (already married) woman really the one he''s been waiting for? Good Faith is an extraordinary story about ordinary people caught up in the exotic 1980s version of the American Dream - as greed and financial game-playing of the highest and newest order explode on Main Street. By turns poignant, insightful, and outrageous, it is Jane Smiley at her funniest and most slyly astute.