A GLOVE SHOP IN VIENNA

From Ibbotson (Madensky Square, 1988, etc.), a collection of lacy, romantic short-short stories—mainly frivolous and as contrived as a decorative petit four, most with a weightless charm that echoes similar light pieces in the popular magazines of the 20's and 30's. Plenty of pictorial atmosphere, sunny hyperbole, and boy-meets-girl. The title tale sets the tone, with a Vienna of chestnut trees, Strauss, and Sacher's—plus Uncle Max's ``Great Love,'' a years- long secret affair that begins with a purchase of gloves. Old Vienna and old Russia reappear in stories of bittersweet loves and heroic partings. Adultery is a dreadful burden: ``making love'' is just that, and he and she had ``given birth to this devastating product'' as solidly and surely as ``manufacturing steel.'' There are cheerful yarns spun about true love finding a way—across steppes, in an aquarium, and in the Amazon. Among the 19 stories are two grandly funny ones: an ex-opera singer holds periodic deathbed performances, an orgy of forgiving all, except the husband she's not spoken to for 29 years; and an English governess amends the diaries of some tiresomely confessional Russian aristocrats. Slight, scented, and deliciously dated in style—for those with a sweet tooth.