It is that last season of America s innocence, the summer

of 1963, in quiet suburban Baltimore. No one is looking

for signs of trouble, least of all George WiLlus-one of

eight grown children, all of whom are named after the

starting players of the 1927 Yankees. A forthright young

man, only George could have instructed three comely

prostitutes to "remove their drawers" in order to help

them move a particularly heavy dresser. And only George

could have believed that he knew what there was to

know about love and life and temptation beckoning over

the backyard fence.

At first, Eve, Kristen, and Dusty-the girls next dour-

seem happy to comply with George s hands-off policy.

Sure, they sunbathe nude, but only in the privacy of their

own backyard (where George can barely see them-even

with binoculars). And since they spend their off-hours

renovating their house, the girls can hardly be called

homewreckers-until Dusty asks George for help in fixing

her lawnmower. Good neighbor to a fault, George does

get her motor gcing (and in an unexpected way, she does

the same for him). Now, he has stopped thinking of himself as a happily married man, and started thinking

that ho is, we!l, simply married. As George s best friend

counsels, "These are the times that try men s souls .

A wiss and funny literary debut, The Girls Next Door

scrutinizes love and marriage, baseball, commitment and

sex and the feelings of loneliness that can take up resi-

dence in a young husband s heart.