The last of three well-received books by the Peace Corps volunteer and writer Roberta Worrick (all written under the pen name Maria Thomas), this dark, modern novella and six sharp stories are set mainly in Ethiopia. Chosen as a New York Times Notable Book when it was first published posthumously in 1991. Worrick, her USAID husband and United States Representative Mickey Leland of Texas were among eight people who died in a plane crash in 1989 in remote northwestern Ethiopia.  (ETP40, $12.00)