Wary Friends

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

For some people, diversity has become a dirty word. White men fear that in its name they will lose their jobs and that Hillary Rodham Clinton herself will replace them with black, lesbian single mothers. Minorities worry that no matter how many degrees they have, their white colleagues may view them as underqualified beneficiaries of a quota. Bebe Moore Campbell's captivating new novel, Brothers and Sisters (Putnam; 476 pages; $22.95), takes the notion of diversity and scrapes away all the myths and fears with which it has become encrusted.

The book's main character is Esther Jackson, an African American who is a midlevel manager at a bank in downtown Los Angeles. It's a few months after the 1992 riots, and racial tensions are high; nonetheless, Jackson starts up a friendship with a white co-worker, Mallory Post. When, as part of a diversity program, a black man is hired to be the new boss of the bank, Esther is overjoyed, and she even fantasizes about having an interoffice fling with him. But her happiness turns to dismay when he is accused of sexually harassing Mallory.

Campbell tells her tale not only from Esther's perspective but through the eyes of her other characters as well. We see sexual harassment from both sides; we experience the exultation of a black man who is promoted and the bitterness of the white man who is replaced; and we are given both views as two women, one black, one white, warily become friends. Writing with wit and grace, Campbell shows how all our stories -- white, black, male, female -- ultimately intertwine.