In her focus on ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations — and coming out ahead — Isaacs's novels present a generally optimistic view of life. She is a sharp observer of contemporary mores and typical problems of an era. For this reason the books hold up a provocative mirror to each of the decades that they're set in, as well as to concerns in some readers' lives.

1. Circumstantial evidence makes Rosie Meyers the logical suspect in her ex-husband's murder. Would better police investigation, or Rosie having had a good lawyer from the beginning, have cleared her without her own extraordinary efforts? Are bumbling official investigations like this one more common in fiction than in real life?

2. The main female characters in Magic Hour and After All These Years, both in their late forties, find new love.

The motif's appeal to the large audience of baby-boomer women...