HAUNTED WATERS

The 19th-century tale ``Undine'' by Baron de La Motte-FouquÇ inspired this novel about a spirit-bedeviled romance between a water maiden and a nobleman. At the beginning, Osborne tells the reader what neither lover knows: Undine, one of a race ``not quite mortal, not quite fish,'' was left as a babe on an old fisherman's doorstep by an ``ancient king of the sea'' who hoped ``to mate his kin with humanity.'' Eighteen years later, Lord Huldbrand discovers the maid, and in due course they are wed. Despite evil spirits that hover about her, Undine herself seems as pure as the water to which she is so mysteriously drawn. But the couple's happiness is haunted by strange manifestations, and Huldbrand's certainty of Undine's innocence is invaded by doubt. Soon he rejects her, and Undine vanishes into what seems to be a watery grave; but as Huldbrand prepares to remarry, she reappears to take him with her to a ``piscine life'' in ``an eternity of water.'' The lushly atmospheric narrative will draw readers who enjoy dark, otherworldly fantasies. Osborne sustains the tone of menace, despite occasional lapses into the mundane. Somewhat overwritten, but true to its genre; appreciative readers may enjoy going on to Hudson's Green Mansions. (Fiction. 12-15)