Virginia Smith's "Age Before Beauty" is a wonderful tribute to several characterizations of motherhood.  Allie is a brand new Mom with a handsome husband and a wonderful life.  As she approaches the end of her maternity leave, she has second thoughts about leaving her newborn daughter in day care to return to work.  She encounters a new employment opportunity in the midst of many other life changes that will evoke sympathetic (if not empathetic) responses from the readers of this thought-provoking work of fiction.