Good Faith / by Jane Smiley

Smiley recieved critical acclaim and won a Pulitzer for her 1991 novel A Thousand Acres, a reworking of Shakespeare's "King Lear" in which an aging Iowa farmer's estate is divided among his 3 daughters. Published in 2003 but set in 1982, Good Faith chronicles a recently divorced realtor chancing his fate on some high-end ventures.

Joe Stratford 's doing OK. Even with his divorced wife and two kids a thousand miles off, he's fairly content with his small New Jersey real estate business, facilitating people in and out of homes during the boom years of the 1980's. He's an amiable enough guy, the type you'd want handling private affairs, a respecter of personal space who's willing to be honest. It's not until Joe meets Marcus Burns, a former IRS agent who's mastered the shortcuts to personal wealth, that timid ambitions become accessible reality.

With Marcus' backing, Joe 'buys in' to his dream of becoming a developer, 'hedging' his bets with the purchase of an old farm on which visions of a planned community lie in the balance. His risque enterprises aren't just financial. Felicity Olnquist is the local daughter of an associate who's always had a thing for Joe, the opportunity's just never come around. Now that he's available, an affair is consummated despite Joe's reservations and the fact that she's still "happily" married with three teenage sons. Amidst feelings of apprehension and guilt, Joe determines to see everything through even as paranoia threatens to overtake his burning conscience.