BLUE GLASS by Sandra Tyler (Harcourt...

BLUE GLASS by Sandra Tyler (Harcourt Brace: $9.95; 293 pp.). Sandra Tyler’s moody first novel focuses on the changing relationship between a girl and her mother, and how that shifting bond affects their lives. At 10, Leslie Flynn sees her mother as an ideal to be emulated. But as she matures, Leslie discovers the flaws in the frightened, insecure person who treats any problem as a personal affront. Contrasting her reticent mother with a more vibrant aunt, she notes that the difference between them “wasn’t necessarily better, only startling, like that first bite into a cinnamon gum ball.”