The Lost Art of Desire is the story of two school teachers. Sam is recently divorced and still grieving the tragic death of his daughter. Jenna is married with children. Although her husband has always cheated on her, Jenna never plans to jeopardize her marriage: "A sense of resolve like a long cool column was forming within her. She would make the marriage work." Despite their circumstances, Sam and Jenna become lovers and wind up spending their summers traveling together. Set in a remote Central American village in the not too distant past, Jenna and Sam find their posada surrounded by ". . .the noises beyond them - that great animal respiration of the night gathering itself, leaves rustling in the wind from the coast, a bird cry - an owl?" Under what becomes a shroud of theft, illness and murder, the expectations that Jenna and Sam have of one another begin to change, and Jenna must act to save herself and the man she loves.

This was the first book I read after September 11, and I found it strangely therapeutic. Robin Beeman expertly draws us into the lives of two characters whose relationship is threatened and ultimately strengthened by outside events, but those events, however powerful, are never more powerful than the characters themselves.

I couldn't put this book down and read it in one sitting. It's about the death of a troubled woman by suicide or accident, we're not sure, and the lives of those around her. Each chapter is written from the perspective of one of these people. Robin Beeman has a lovely, lyrical way with words. I love the subtle metaphors that ran throughout this book, starting with the description of the cutting down of firs in the first chapter. But most of all I was taken in by her incredible ability to create believable characters of depth and conflicting desires, all in a very understated prose. I will now go look for her first book and anxiously await her next, due out in September. She is the real McCoy.

A wonderful book, vivid, funny and precise. I loved every page. The woman can write!