Lyrical and brave, Joan Jackson's Voluntary Chaos travels the long path of a woman's emergence from a false sense of security to find where she truly belongs. In Portland, not long after Gloria Steinem gave women permission to find themselves, Sylvia Beekman's simmering unhappiness with her marriage boils over. Caught between her love for another man and her sense of duty, she wrestles with her double life. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens reminds her that she, too, can no longer remain inactive. Before returning to her love of teaching French, a family visit to Ohio reveals the heartache of...