SUMMER HOURS AT THE ROBBERS LIBRARY

by Sue Halpern; Harper Perennial (368 pages, $15.99)

The Robbers Library is a misnomer, one of the characters in Sue Halpern’s latest novel says—the name was actually Robers Library, named for the robber baron who helped start the New Hampshire factory town where this gentle book is set. But it is appropriate that the library, where much of the action takes place, is misnamed because in this novel no one is who they seem. Everyone has secrets.

The librarian, Kit, has fled to this dying town to avoid the scandal of her shattered marriage. Sunny, the teenager who is sentenced to perform community service at the library (for the charming crime of shoplifting a dictionary), is the daughter of hippies—one

of whom is leading a double life. Rusty, the handsome stranger who motors into town in his speedy sports car, is a failed Wall Street power broker, here looking for a fortune perhaps left behind by his adoptive parents.

Even the four retired guys who treat the library as their private club have secrets—or one of them does, anyway.

“Summer Hours at the Robbers Library” has ambitions. Halpern touches on themes of greed, home schooling, the back-to-theland movement, animal rights, immigration, happiness and love. But she is careful not to weigh down her story, which is both light and action-packed.

It veers into melodrama (murder! a convenient bequest! a terrible fire!) but she handles it ably. A fun read, and she gets the atmosphere of the old Carnegie library exactly right.