By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham

Peter and Rebecca Harris: mid-forties denizens of Manhattan's SoHo, are admirable, enviable contemporary urbanites with every reason, it seems, to be happy until her much-younger look-alike brother shows up for a visit. Like his legendary, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Hours," Cunningham's masterly new novel is a heartbreaking look at the way we live now.