HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG

Andre Dubus reads for the stern Iranian colonel who lost almost everything escaping with his precious family to the U.S. after the fall of the Shah. "In my country I could have had him beaten," he says of a man he works with on the highway crew. Fontaine Dubus reads for Kathy Nicolo, the hapless young beauty whose house the colonel buys in a tax auction. Colonel Behrani needs that house to save his family from poverty. Kathy won't give it up. When an American cop falls in love with the hapless beauty, we've got all the ingredients for an old-fashioned tragedy. Brilliantly written, and presented with feeling, this is one of the saddest stories ever told. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 01]