A Lifetime Burning

So spontaneous is the writing in A Lifetime Burning, one might believe these are indeed words of a woman desperately trying to understand what has happened to her life, beginning with the fact that her husband has stopped sleeping with her.

Why? Is there a rival—perhaps “The Toad,” the unattractive housewife next door—or someone else, who will completely surprise the reader, as do many of the events of the protagonist's story? At age sixty-two, Corinne must grapple with the most painful tru...