The character descriptions in Jardine Libaire's second novel, White Fur (after Here Kitty Kitty), are so pithy and bona fide that she could have wrapped her stormy 1980s love story into a tight narrative verse. But then we would miss her talent for slowly building the steamy relationship between two New Haven kids from divergent backgrounds. Chiseled Jamey Balthazar Hyde (third-generation heir an investment bank) lives in an off-campus townhouse. Behind it, in a bare squat, lanky Elise Perez watches Jamey day and night. They meet on a beer run, and before long, the privileged Jamey and raw, risky Elise dive into an edgy, rugby scrum of a sexual relationship.
To her credit, Libaire doesn't let this Romeo and Juliet tale follow a predictable path. Instead, Elise carries the novel with her fresh impetuosity and fragile sensibility in the face of a world she's never tasted--nor much wants. Their relationship heats up and Jamey drops out of Yale to whisk Elise off to Manhattan's East Village. In her ever-present white fur ("knee-length rabbit coat with its vinyl belt, the Esther stitched in violet in the taffeta lining") which she got in a swap for a can of Pringles on a Greyhound bus, Elise roams the streets and bodegas while Jamey works as an intern at Sotheby's. Until he up and quits. Legally renouncing his inheritance, Jamey grabs a gumball ring and takes Elise to the courthouse. When the Hydes get wind of it, they bring on the power of old money to try to bust up the impassioned lovers. Libaire's White Fur is a love story with raunch, obsession and heart, told with frothy originality. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.