It’s the summer of 1938, and 24-year-old Ward Bennett feels like he’s seen it all. In the eyes of the wealthy, soon-to-be-divorced women staying at the Flying Leap ranch near Reno, Nevada, he’s a polite, hunky cowboy (“Cary Grant in cowboy boots”). In reality, he had one year at Harvard before the Great Depression and an unscrupulous uncle wiped out his family’s savings, and he’s sending most of his paycheck back to his parents in Tennessee.

The women come to the Flying Leap to establish residence for the required six weeks before they can obtain a no-fault divorce. Ward is an affable sort who doesn’t mind his job: “We were on hand to do chores around the ranch, of course, but mostly we were hired to squire rich, brokenhearted ladies around Reno, hold their purses while they shopped, and lead them on trail rides through the high desert.”

"Two aspects of this novel are remarkable. One is the dialogue.... The book’s other notable trait is its construction, which deftly crafts a story within a story.... BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME is a perfect antidote to our stressful times..."

The Flying Leap is the brainchild of the proprietors Max and Margaret, who paid a Hollywood set designer to turn an old cattle ranch into a caricature of the Old West. Hence, Ward drives a stagecoach to the airport to pick up Nina, an incoming guest, but not before being joined by Emily, a new arrival who had driven up from San Francisco a few days before. Sam asks why she didn’t go into Reno with the other ladies, and the diminutive Emily says that she doesn’t like gambling: “And yet you got married, I thought but did not say.”

After the long hot ride, Sam and Emily are astounded by the sight of their new guest arriving in a double cockpit biplane. The slim, six-foot pilot jumps down from the lower wing, and Sam wonders where Nina is, until the pilot pulls off her sweaty head gear and calls for a drink.

It’s fair to say that both Ward and Emily are smitten by brazen, funny Nina, who is here for her third divorce. Nina sets out to shock and entertain sheltered Emily, who takes to her education like a duck to water. But the hijinks stop when Emily’s teenaged daughter, Portia, shows up to convince her to stay with her philandering husband. Alliances shift, and lines are crossed that bring this season of fun and frolic to a surprising close.

Two aspects of this novel are remarkable. One is the dialogue. Listen in while Margaret explains her philosophy of matching ladies to rooms.

“It’s like stabling a goat with a thoroughbred to keep the horse from kicking its stall to pieces,” Margaret explained.

“How do you tell the thoroughbred from the goat?” I asked.

“Easy,” she said. “Everybody’s both.”

The book’s other notable trait is its construction, which deftly crafts a story within a story. Present-day Ward is in an old folks home, telling his tale to an interested visitor who has brought a photograph from that fateful summer in 1938. It would be churlish to doubt that his recollections from 50 years ago would be so detailed, especially when the result is this funny, charming book that makes you laugh while playing your heartstrings like a cowboy’s guitar around a campfire.

BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME is a perfect antidote to our stressful times, and I highly recommend it.