Life designs

the long version

Life Designs is a richly textured novel detailing the course of one woman's marriage, the choice between fidelity and betrayal, and the doubts and consequences that choice provokes. Ford skillfully, compellingly unbraids the strands of this woman's life. The young Meg Mowbry had intelligence and beauty and promise, none of which prepared her for the challenges and reversals of her marriage. Her husband Jim, a young professor who consoled and seduced her while she grieved over her brother's death in Vietnam, sets out on a promising academic career to which Meg - at first - sacrifices her own ambitions. Soon both their attentions turn to other interests, and other people.