Real Game

A HOUSE ON THE SOUND by Kathrin Perutz. 213 pages. Coward-McCann. $3.95.

Her enlightened, exurban parents handed down only one sexual prohibition: Thou Shalt Not Tease. And to Nickie Hornbury, violation of it is unthinkableĀ—as is any subject other than sex. Even when she rode the subway to Barnard College, her favorite game was to contemplate, in case the car was stranded, which passenger would be coupled with whom. By the time Nickie is 20, the game can be played for real: dinners at the Hornburys' waterside estate on Long Island are followed almost automatically by a skinny dip in the Sound....

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