GLORIA MUNDI by Eleanor Clark Pantheon; 214 pages; $8.95
Even in bedrock New England, Eleanor Clark's home territory (Baldur's Gate; Eyes, Etc.), the center no longer holds. In her latest novel, hippies, religious freaks and motorcycle gangs have invaded the hills; developers have subdivided the landscape and dispersed the natives. Everyone is adrift, "looking for something—truth, identity, ripoffs, drug deals, lost dogs, new mates, carpentry jobs, socio-political this and that."
To changing Boonton, Vt. comes Margo Philipson, a dumpy Michigan housewife with a history of kidney trouble and a well-developed martyr's complex. She is searching for her missing husband, a handsome minister...
