Lorna Landvik hypnotizes readers, telling stories with quiet power, brilliant wit, and amazing resonance. USA Today praised her novel, Patty Jane's House of Curl, as "fun and funny, spiked with tragedy and sad times." Now, in Your Oasis on Flame Lake, she continues to create real, resilient people we come to know and love. All you have to do is see a fiery sunset reflecting on the water to figure out how Flame Lake got its name. The small Minnesota town onshore is home to a close-knit group of old friends who discover their comfortable lives taking some unforeseen turns. Best friends fast approaching forty, Devera and BiDi (short for Beverly Diane) were recently voted "Least Changed" at their twentieth high school reunion. Once overjoyed, Devera now finds the label insulting. Oh, she loves her husband and still believes being a wife and mother is the main entree on life's plate. She just longs for the more exotic side dishes. BiDi is adored by her second husband Sergio but her only passions are her perfect household and her perfect body. These priorities sadden her daughter, Francine, a stocky fourteen-year-old and the only girl on the high school hockey team. Francine feels closer to her stepdad, a spirited, supportive soul who loves her right back. BiDi can't figure it out. Nor can she pinpoint the reason why her own sex drive is stuck in neutral, despite a thin and gorgeous chassis. Then there's Devera's husband, Dick Lindstrom, an ace car and appliance salesman with cabaret in his heart. He dreams of opening a night club in his basement. Nothing fancy. Just a BYOB joint to hang out in, sing, dance, tell jokes, and be yourself. The name? Your Oasis at Flame Lake. And it arrives not a moment too soon. For a violent, unexpected crisis will throw both families into chaos--and force them to take stock of their lives. A wonderful, heartfelt novel of feeling, loving, and forgiving, Your Oasis at Flame Lake proves that Lorna Landvik is a writer who has arrived. A varied cast of characters takes turns narrating this ultimately upbeat tale of friendship, tears, and laughter from the author of Patty Jane's House of Curl (LJ 8/95). Devera Lindstrom and BiDi Herrera, best friends since high school, are on the cusp of 40. While Devera has an affair with a pretentious college instructor, BiDi uses diet pills to keep her gorgeous body in shape and tries to hide her dissatisfaction with Franny, her athletic teenage daughter. Dick Lindstrom works for his father-in-law and dreams of opening a nightclub in his basement. BiDi's husband, Sergio, adores his hockey-playing stepdaughter but wants to have another child. Dick learns of Devera's affair, Franny is mysteriously beaten up one evening, and BiDi and Sergio's new baby is born prematurely. Yet in the end nearly everyone is happy and fulfilled. Close scrutiny reveals any number of weaknesses, including the overly busy, rather unbelievable plot; the pedestrian writing; and the less-than-three-dimensional characters. But why complain? Read it for what it is: a perfect purchase for popular fiction collections.?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. Landvik was a stand-up comic, and she writes like one: her characters are clever and offbeat, like Garrison Keillor's or Fannie Flagg's. In a small Minnesota town, two friends chafe at being voted "Least Changed" at their twentieth high-school reunion. Timid Devera has an affair with her night-school teacher; BiDi, known for her still-perfect figure, gets pregnant by Sergio, her second husband. Devera's husband, Dick, a car salesman who dreams of performing his joke songs in a cabaret, opens "Your Oasis" in their basement and provides a town gathering place. When opposing hockey players ambush BiDi's daughter, Frannie, the hulking product of her first marriage and the town mascot for making the varsity team as a freshman and a girl, the families and town must make peace with the fragility of loved ones. The most captivating narrator is Devera's precocious daughter Darcy, a hat aficionado and self-appointed defender of justice. She and this book should delight most readers. Kevin Grandfield Quirky characters are a dime a dozen, but truly believable, lovable ones are not--a fact that makes Landvik's (Patty Jane's House of Curl, 1995) latest slice of American life a genuine pleasure. As chapters are narrated alternately by several characters, the reader swiftly becomes privy to the secrets of many in cozy White Falls, Minnesota. Lifelong friends Devera and BiDi are handling the rapid approach to 40 in their own unique ways: BiDi maintains a youthful zest by speeding through life, tossing off zinging one-liners along the way, while Devera begins a tawdry, slightly embarrassing affair with scrawny and supercilious Gerhart Ludwig, her night-class history professor. Blissfully ignorant, Devera's husband Dick happily runs the family Cadillac dealership and dreams of openin