Blacker than thou

The heroine of this pitch-black comedy is Peyton, a travel agent who, once upon a time, married bland Barry the dentist for security more than for love.

Stifled by their life together, Peyton eases her discontent with flings in faraway destinations like Rio, Hong Kong and Milan.

Now, a quarter of a century later, she has taken herself off on one last jaunt - 'a few days away, like a palate-cleansing course of sorbet' is how she justifies it.

But things are turning out very poorly, indeed. Spurned and spentout, she lets her mind linger on the thrills of past trips and mulls over the humiliating lengths to which she went in her pursuit of men. Janowitz conjures up some gruesomely memorable images - Peyton's blue-black hair, for instance, gleams with 'the sheen of a healthy housefly' - but this tale of life beyond the tediously everafter is barbed with reflections on the world's double standards.