In "Nothing Is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn (Harper Perennial)," writer Alice Mattison weaves a story of four women and life-changing events that take place years apart.

There's Constance Tepper, known as "Con"; her mother, Gertrude; and Con's daughter, Joanna. But it's Marlene Silverman, Gertrude's lifelong best friend, whose mysterious life and motivations drive the story.

The book opens on a spring morning in 1989, when Con, 45, goes to stay at her mother's apartment in Brooklyn to watch the cat, while her mom goes to Rochester to visit her friend, Marlene.

Like many children fascinated with the friend who just seems more intriguing than their own parent, Con has always been drawn to Marlene, whom she finds more knowing and interesting than her mother.

But as the book unfolds, so do the secrets of the decades-old friendship, when Con discovers letters that were written by Marlene to her mother years ago, during World War II.

During that fateful week, Con's life also is turned upside down by the disappearance of her purse, the decision to leave her husband and the news that her mother will never return to the apartment and cat.

It's a good story that keeps the reader interested in the mysterious Marlene, who is the most captivating character. Then there's her daughter, Joanna, who is part Jewish and part black, and struggling to find herself as an artist.

But it's sometimes hard to care very much about some of the characters; you don't really get to know them well or have a deep sense of what drives them, with the exception of Marlene. There's a sense that one is merely peeking into the windows of their lives.