Paper Wings

Marly Swick's first novel opens in a Wisconsin suburb during the golden pre-JFK-assassination era. In a world of manicured lawns and frosty Tom Collinses topped with golf-club-shaped swizzle sticks, 12-year-old Suzanne bears witness to her mother's erratic moods, which swing high at the bright prospect of Kennedy's election and then plunge after his tragic death. Swick, painting a portrait of a naive America forced to grow up a little too fast, combines an unobtrusive tone with vivid images — the ubiquitous Avon lady, a Betsy Wetsy doll filling in for baby Jesus in a family's Christmas creche. Paper Wingsevokes a sweet, uniquely American nostalgia as it follows Suzanne through the years, dissecting a family's — and a country's — innocence lost. A