The Folded World (2007)

Bookworm Alice and idealistic Charlie fall in love, marry, and in short order, they're the parents of twins, living on Charlie's meager salary as a psychiatric social worker. In The Folded World, her exquisitely written second novel, Amity Gaige explores the ups and downs of a fragile, mostly joyful young relationship: Charlie's overcommitment to his mentally ill clients; Alice's fleeting attraction to a bookstore clerk; their infant daughter's first, tentative steps. The bitterness and disillusion of marriage have been thoroughly plumbed in contemporary fiction; Gaige is one of the rare novelists who is more interested in its potential for happiness and grace. A-