BOOK REVIEW / In brief: The Other Mother - Seth Margolis: Headline, pounds 15.99

Want to play Solomon? Then decide who shall parent black Isaiah. The wealthy white Lewins, whom he loves and who bought him as a tiny baby from a crack-addicted mother? Or Selma Richards, who has dragged herself off drugs and on to an adult literacy programme, aided by her assurance of the Lord's love and her determination to get her son back? Both Selma and Margaret Lewin are good women, and both have the capacity to make good mothers. The suspense structure insists that you career through the pages but towards the end your fingers shrink from their task - the pain, for the loser, is going to be just too acute to bear.