Aimee Slater is a young women struggling to find herself among the traditions of a 19th-century New Hampshire town and the burgeoning factory life of Lowell, Massachusetts. Alternating between her past and present experiences, she melds a story of family relations, her desire to succeed, and her attempt at an independent life. Her parents reluctantly allow her to leave home for the "City of Spindles," yet almost immediately she mourns their absence. Is the wedge between her and her family created by her headstrong choices, as her mother claims, or does she simply draw deeper inside herself as a result of events she cannot understand? Like Ellen Glasgow's Barren Ground (1925), Aimee's struggle takes place in the absence of any strong male presence. This is a captivating novel about regrets, action, and reaction and the final achievement of understanding and contentment. Graver's first attempt to deviate from her well-received short stories (Have You Seen Me?, LJ 7/91) is a success. Recommended for readers who enjoy history, women's development, and mother-daughter issues. Laurel Duda, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.