PRIDE (1998)

PRIDE Lorene Cary (Doubleday, $23.95) Cary's second novel is a sexy girlfriend tale that takes its characters beyond dishing men and doing nails. Four African-American women, close since childhood, are divided by the discovery that one of them has had a long-running affair with another's husband. In separate first-person narratives, Roz the betrayed wife, Tamara the failed academic, Arneatha the widowed Episcopal priest, and Audrey the good-hearted alcoholic all struggle for fulfillment in a man-centered universe. Perhaps this is why the adultery crisis fails to generate much heat. Fortunately, there's still plenty of warmth in this story of women finding happiness on their own terms. B+