THE SEASONS OF BEENTO BLACKBIRD. <i> By Akosua Busia. (Little, Brown: 368 pp., $22.95)</i>

Solomon Wilberforce, the protagonist of Akosua Busia’s first novel, “The Seasons of Beento Blackbird,” is a best-selling children’s author--he writes under the pseudonym of Beento Blackbird--who moves back and forth between three phases of existence, kept separate by geography and time. During the winter, he resides with his first wife, Miriam, on the Caribbean island of Cape Corcos. Over the summer, he travels to Ghana to visit his second wife, the 23-year-old Ashia. In between, he writes and lectures in Manhattan, where he is pursued by Sam, his beautiful literary agent, who believes she could make him happy if only he would settle down. Busia’s gushing admiration for the character at times puts believability to the test. As a result, he cannot take shape beyond a single, flat dimension, like some kind of cardboard saint. In the end, Busia’s point is that, no matter how much Solomon wills it, he cannot live a life in pieces. There will be an inevitable bleed-over, if only because his feelings for Miriam, Ashia or Sam must overlap. It’s a valid notion, one that could have been the substance of a wonderful book. Unfortunately, without a fully realized figure at its center, “The Seasons of Beento Blackbird” never rings true enough to come completely to life.