Every homemaker who feels she's taken for granted should open Calling Invisible Women and meet Clover Hobart, who looks in the bathroom mirror one day and realizes that not only does she feel invisible, she is invisible--her toothbrush is floating in the air. Clover's disappearances come and go without warning. While her best friend accepts her bizarre fate, it's disconcerting that Clover's preoccupied husband, her returned-to-the-nest son and her college-cheerleader daughter don't notice--going about their lives and talking to the phantom mom without seeing her.
Puzzling over her ephemeral existence, Clover notices a meeting announcement in the local newspaper: "Calling Invisible Women." Could there be others like her? At the Sheraton, she discovers a room of empty chairs. "We're all naked," explains a voice. So Clover joins the sorority.
We ache for Clover's confusion and cheer for her good humor and acceptance. Continuing to support her oblivious-but-lovable family, she learns to take advantage of being invisible and, together, she and her new friends determine the root of their condition: despite knowing its drugs can make women disappear, a pharmaceutical company has failed to withdraw them from the market. (Drug companies, take note: Hell hath no fury like an invisible woman.)
Fans of Jeanne Ray know that (as with her 2003 debut Julie and Romeo) we'll come to feel that we know Clover and sympathize with her plight. It's readers' good fortune that Ray brings her light, smart touch to this comic take on women of a certain age who feel they've disappeared. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, bookseller