To work or not to work-that question for mothers, again. With oil prices rising hourly, high taxes and large mortgages on McMansions, many Long Island mothers work full or part-time having only taken brief catnaps from their careers. But for those whose family-leave lasted years, Sleeping Beauty's nap pales in mythological comparison to mothers selflessly abandoning dream jobs to hit the snooze bar on life.

Meg Wolitzer's eighth novel The Ten-Year Nap (Riverhead Books $24.95 in bookstores now) sheds a wry light on the post-feminist, 40-something generation of ambitious women who "opt" out of the work force to stay home to raise their children.

"I wanted to explore, through fiction, what happens to women's ambition, expectations and their vulnerability about it all when maybe they don't have that "calling" like some people do. It seems self-worth is tied to having a purpose-and does that necessarily mean work," said Wolitzer. "The perception of women's ambition is misogynistic. The '70s feminist dream for women passed the proverbial torch onward making the following generations question just exactly what it all means. What are women supposed to do, or not do, really?"

Wolitzer stirs up the cauldron of the working vs. non-working mother issue almost as controversial as Roe vs. Wade. She poses the "what in the world do you do all day" as being "mommy" becomes a job with over-zealous craft making, volunteering and just not feeling significant in the world at large. In her witty, tart style, going for the abstract, she leaves no stone unturned with references to eating Bon Bons; a husband's desire for Ritalin to tolerate his non-working wife's endless droning; an anorexic, neurotic housewife launching a line of health stuff and a breast feeding scene-Uber mother, a la wet nurse gone wild.

Through intermittent chapters of feminists from previous generations, Wolitzer seems to say that they said: we fought to give you choices and this is what you chose to do-just be a mom-spitefully rebelling against the "You've Come a Long Way Baby" myth. But, they cried: Don't you want to be someone, because there is no market value to just being moms.

But instead of seeking an individual purpose to life, it comes off as collectively just another cause hung on the scaffolding of a generation-the "Feminist Cry" was their job to stave off boredom, too. Like a pattern of every other generation, it's in vogue to be mom, then not, then yes, again. Round and round we go.

While it doesn't give you the warm, fuzzy feel-goods, it makes you think, which is what Wolitzer's growing fan base likes about her. The novel struck an irritating nerve for some stay-at-home mothers who bantered on Salon.com, while resonating loud and clear with others, and The Ten-Year Nap hit the New York Times bestseller list for a few weeks.

Syosset mothers were interviewed and asked "how's your Ten-Year Nap going?"

Ten years was about right. There was a pattern of those who financially could, or chose to do without the extras, in order to stay home. Mothers face guilt everywhere they turn. How does one find good help with the average non-live-in nanny pay at $35,000 annually or babysitters getting $10 to $15 an hour and commuting expenses. Yet, the women say, if you don't go back before your late 40s, you've lost momentum and your career is pretty much toast. As a confidence-building first step many of the part-time jobs women take (which they are far overqualified for) add nothing to their résumés. Others mothers asked to define ambition and what success really means, because it shifts as priorities change.

On year 12 of stay-at-home motherhood, Diane Clark, 41 and mother of Sean, 12, Kristen, 10 and Ryan, 6, who enjoyed The Ten-Year Nap saying it brought up some interesting things but was too black and white-you either have this big career or you somehow don't exist. "In my twenties, I gave 110 percent to my career." Clark holds a Masters in Art and was an Art teacher for Herricks Middle and High School in New Hyde Park. Besides teaching art and photography classes, she often did posters and T-shirts for clubs. "I loved my job and worked long hours. But it didn't define me. How limiting and boring is that? I can only be one thing? That was a certain phase of my life and now I'm in this phase. It's all me." Clark says she knows in a few years she'll go back, but it will never be with the same gusto.

"I guess I took a 16-week nap when my son was first born," said Dawn Florio, 43, CPA and mother of Christopher, 9, and Samantha, 6. "Then I commuted into Manhattan full time, until Sammy came." Florio quit her job in a large public accounting firm when on her third day back from a second maternity leave, 11-week-old daughter Samantha wound up in the hospital with bronchitis. "I quit-that was it! But one of my clients asked me to consult and one thing led to another and I've been working for myself since. It helps to be flexible for the kids' schedules." Florio provides bookkeeping services, prepares five-year cashflow projections and business plans for both personal and corporate clients in Manhattan and commutes a few days a week. "I'm glad it happened this way. I love work and enjoy digging into projects and, of course, speaking to adults, but it's tough juggling it all sometimes."

Then there's Sheryl Silberman, 40, mother of Alyssa, 9 and Alex, 7 "You know what my mother told me? Become a teacher. It's a great career for a woman. And I didn't listen. I got my MBA and became a sales account executive for Sky Tel. I made great money, traveled around the country." But Silberman says in the nine years she's been home, technology has passed her by. "Before cell phones with text messaging, I used to sell those pagers that had a canned response. They don't exist anymore. All my experience is obsolete. Besides which, I just can't work 15-hour days again. I want a job that fits my lifestyle not my life to fit around my job. Can you believe I have an MBA and I'm looking forward to being a lunch aide next year?" Silberman who has been teaching in a pre-school a few days a week said if she wants to pursue any type of career she'll go back for an elementary degree. "It's a lesson in listen to your mother. I should have gone for teaching back then."

In The Ten-Year Nap, Wolitzer explains the privileged class of post 9/11 New York City motherhood through four friends: Amy, Jill, Roberta and Karen who were lukewarm somethings in yesteryear-corporate lawyer, film scout, an artist and an investment banker. They spend mornings coffee clatching in a Manhattan shop, after dropping their sons off at private school and secretly wonder what to do next...as their inner waking alarm clocks bleat one by one. Former corporate lawyer, Amy, daughter of a feminist historical fiction author, gets caught up fantasizing about the life of gorgeous, super mother, Penny, who has it all-hedge-fund manager husband and museum curator job. Amy's illusions come crashing down on a vacation to obscure St. Doe's island and culminate in Amy re-embracing work again.

At 49, and mother of two teenaged sons, Gabriel and Charlie, Wolitzer balanced a prolific literary career while working at home in Manhattan. She produced seven previous novels, including the much acclaimed and widely read The Wife, The Position, Surrender, Dorothy made into a TV movie starring Diane Keaton, and This Is Your Life, also a movie directed by Nora Ephron.

Wolitzer grew up in Syosset and is daughter of author Hilma Wolitzer who went beyond stay-at-home motherhood with a string of literary works including: The Doctor's Daughter, Ending, In the Flesh and Hearts. Seeing her mother's achievement and following her desire to write from an early age, Wolitzer said, "Personally, I never thought I wouldn't work, but each person has to find what gives their life purpose and no one can judge what that is."

Some of her other novels include Sleepwalking (1982), Hidden Pictures (1986), This Is Your Life (1988), Friends for Life (1994), Surrender, Dorothy (1998), The Wife (2003) and The Position (2005). She has won numerous awards including a National Endowment of Arts grant (1994), Best American Short Stories (1999) and Pushcart Prize (1998). Wolitzer has taught creative writing at The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and Columbia University and will be at Southampton Writers Conference this summer.