Moon Women, by Pamela Duncan, Piatkus, £9.99

THE hills of Madison County, North Carolina, are the setting for this age-old story of mothers and daughters.

Mothers of daughters will recognise the difficulties in their daily struggle to do their best for one another.

Ruth Ann leads a lonely life. Divorced and middle-aged, her daughter Ashley is in re-hab and needs a place to live. Her mother is becoming more and more unreliable as age takes its hold, and her sister Cassandra is straining at the isolation she has allowed herself to get into.

Everyone comes to Ruth Ann for help, and it all becomes overwhelming.

When Ashley, newly released from Appalachian Hall, says she is pregnant, it seems that Ruth Ann has yet another cross to bear.

She decides that she will give Ashley the task of taking care of her mother and moves both grandmother and granddaughter into the same room. It could all turn out to be a disaster.

Marvelle, Ruth Ann and Cassandra's, mother is finding it more and more difficult to live in ''today'' and seeks comfort in the past. The tough old ways have forged a determined and resourceful lady, but she is only too aware of how frail she is.

Ashley, her granddaughter, is going to be her last project, and in the process she helps the young tearaway achieve maturity and wisdom.

There is no mawkish sentiment here. What holds it all together is the theme of family love and continuity.

Pamela Duncan may have set her novel in the Deep South, but in truth it could have been set anywhere. The contemporary theme is universal.

Annie Dendy