In 1977, Marilyn French inspired a generation of feminists with The Women's Room. Twenty years later she still refuses to go quietly, play with the grandchildren, and prune the roses, as women of a certain advanced age are supposed to. Instead, she has written a romantic novel, and true to her youthful vigor, it is a subversive one. French joins Doris Lessing in believing that the libido can survive old age in women as in men. At the beginning of the novel, the heroine has cast aside her self-image as a desirable woman, as society expects; but then she meets a dashing editor in his 50s, and snap--she is consumed by erotic longing. She is able to analyze intelligently the whole disturbing situation with her knowing women friends, even while she enjoys a delicious summer of romance.