F ly Away Home is Daria Walker's story, and Daria is a "Piercy protagonist" through and through. A wife and mother whose marriage has raised her out of the laboring class, Daria's sense of self derives solely from her domestic roles. She is a mother, a wife, a housekeeper enamored of her lovely home, a good cook and — almost incidentally — a best-selling cookbook writer with her own TV show.

Despite this semblance of security, Daria, at forty-three, knows there are cracks. She and Ross have no sex life.

Her daughters rarely speak. Preferring the aesthetic side of her work to the business side, Daria has no idea of her net worth or annual income. Although she earns more than he does, Ross belittles her work, calling her, with scorn, a writer of "fat books." It is no career. Still, Daria ignores all murmers of trouble in...