Evening star. [volume], May 11, 1947, Page C-3, Image 40

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Reviewing The New Books
Postwar France
Is Setting for
Vivid Novel
THE OLD LADY
By Anne Green. (Harper; $2.75.)
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Old Madame, as she was called
back in Salisbury, had arrived in
her own Prance, with her 18
year-old American granddaughter
Prances. The war, of course, was
over, but not the incredible confu
sion and bewilderment. The old
lady did find a few distant rela
tives; the rest had vanished.
Prances had the family pretty
well catalogued, considering she had
been Old Madame’s granddaughter
only a few years. She wasn’t, in
fact, related to the old French
woman, but an adopted grand
daughter, rescued from step-parents
who didn’t want her and made her
practically a waif.
In Paris Old Madame did find
her once-affluent. cousin, Michel
Baron, installed in his old mansion.
She had seen him only a few times
and so many years ago. Then it
turned out it wasn’t Cousin Michel
at all, but a soldier of the Resist
ance who had been betrayed to the
Germans and tortured and couldn’t
remember who he was. He was a
nic«, melancholy young man who
one day, surely, would recover his
memory. Meanwhile he and
Prances. . .
That will give you an idea of
the complications tha(T suffuse a
whimsical novel which has more
depth than may appear at first.
First War Wife.
Old Madame had a daughter,
VXGOigcU'C, wxiu xittu xxxttixxcu »xx
American soldier during the first
World War. Georgette and her
husband settled in his home town
in America. After his death, Old
Madame went to Salisbury with the
firm intention of taking her daugh
ter back to the prosperous family
farms in Normandy. Then the Ger
ihans struck again, and it was im
possible to go back. So the old
lady stayed on with her daughter.
When Old Madame took Frances
.off the streets and tentatively
adopted her, the household became
much livelier. There was the French
Club, and the old baker woman,
Mme. Favre, with her brilliant,
delicate son Robert. A blossom
ing romance between Frances and
Robert necessarily withered when
the boy decided, after his mother's
sudden death, to study for the
priesthood.
The war ended, but “Aunt"
Georgette wouldn't stir. She was
staying in her American home and
marrying Mr. Orden. There was
nothing for Old Madame to do but
return to France—not alone, be
cause Frances stuck.
Miss Green has written this story
with the colorful vivacity her read
ers have come to expect. It seems
to me, though, that “The Old Lady”
has some confusing elements not
concerned with the complicated
plot, which is quite? charming. And
the story takes a long time to get
under way. The second half—the
adventures of the old lady and her
adopted granddaughter in France
—is much more absorbing.
Startling Dialogue.
Some of the conversations be
tween Frances and Robert when
they first get acquainted are amaz
ing even for a couple of precocious
adolescents. We find Robert, point
ing to family portraits and heir
looms, saying of his mother: “When
I was born, she just did charring
to support me, and by dint of half
starving herself managed to save a
bit and learn the baking business
with these souvenirs as background.”
And Frances, who was running with
tough kids when Old Madame took1
her in, drops swearing and slang
almost overnight and develops a
vocabulary that would do credit to
a postgraduate seminar in English.
• You wonder, at first, whether the
tale is to be sheer fantasy. But
naturalism, of a sort, takes over
later, and holds on pretty well to
the close. Salisbury apparently is
not the North Carolina city, but;
a fanciful town not Identified by
the author with any particular re
gion.
—
A Strange Story of
A Tragic Marriage
THE SLING AND THE ARROW
By Stuart Engstrand. (Creative
Age Press, Inc.; $3.)
Reviewed by
STANLEY BAITZ.
The publishers advertise this book
as “the strangest story of a mar
riage ever told.” There is merit in
the claim, colossal as it is.
The author has made a bold ap
proach to a subject generally con-;
sidered taboo. He has done a cred-j
ible study of the psycho-patholog- ]
leal force which hurtled a mar- !
rirge to tragic denouement.
Outwardly, Herbert Dawes is a ]
normal, respeciauie Liu/'.rn aim a
happily married man. But he is
strangely averse to having his wife,
bear children and he insists upon
a peculiarly mannish cut to her
clothes. He manifests other aber
rations which finally impel his wife
to take up his case with a psy
chiatrist.
The latter quickly diagnoses the
ease, but the conclusion is too
startling for the wife to accept. She
is supported by the family physi
cian, a conventional practitioner
who adheres to the notion that
mental doctors are interlopers and
charlatans. He insists that Dawes
is as masculine as Zeus.
Without treatment Dawes’ condi
tion grows worse, and his wife, to
humor him, submits to a mode of
life which, while unnatural, can
probably find parallels in medical
case histories. The story ends un
expectedly and with brutal impact.
In this novel—his fourth—the
author has done a serious work
which shows profound psychological
Insight. Nevertheless, the writing
, is lucid and the story moves swiftly
ANNE GREEN,
Author of "The Old Lady.”
Introducing the
Most Disagreeable
Man in Fiction
DWIGHT CRAIG
By Donald MacRae. (Houghton
Mifflin; $2.75.)
Without doubt, Dwight Craig Is
the most disagreeable character I’ve
encountered in fiction for years
Which is a tribute to the author, foi
Mr. MacRae set out to create jus!
such a person.
This novel is, in a way, a success
story—in a very special way. It is
the story of a man who, through his
boyhood and young manhood, was
tionships of life. But because he
was clever and could absorb forma:
education easily, he made a great
success as an educator. The novel if
a bitter satire on the phony in edu
cation, the insincere climber on the
college faculty, who has the person
ality and the ruthlessness to push
himself ahead.
Mr. MacRae does a thorough Jot
of showing why Craig is what he is:
A shielded, “delicate” child grown
into a thwarted person, who had
missed his childhood and tried fu
tilely to adjust himself when thrown
on his own resources as a college
undergraduate.
A Savage Portrait.
Craig’s frustrations took the form
of making him cruel and contempt
uous-determined to get erven with
the world for his
own disappoint
ments and suf
ferings. He was
willing to com
promise, to dou
ble-cross, to be
tray if his inter
ests could be
advanced. When
we leave him, he
is president of a
Western univer
sity, outwardly a
young man of
conspicuous Don»14 MacKae.
achievement, inwardly without per
sonality except the synthetic one he
has built and sometimes almost be
lieves in.
Mr. MacRae offers a penetrating
psychological study. There ard times
when the book seems to need more
episodic treatment. But this defect
does not cloud a portrait which is
savagely clear.
Mr. MacRae knows the field. He
teaches literature in a Western col
lege. “Dwight Craig,” his first
novel, won a Houghton Mifflin Lit
erary Fellowship award. C. B. J.
Col. 'Jim' Devereux
Tells His Story
THE STORY OF WAKE ISLAND
By James P. S. Devereux, U. S.
M. C. (Lippincott; $2.75.)
Reviewed by
EDWARD A. GREENE.
resident and heroic defender of
Wake Island writes his account of
the 14 days of almost constant at
. tack by the Japs
on his tiny gar
rison o f Ma
rines who, at the
outbreak of war,
proved to the
world that
“Americans
could take it as
well as dish it
out.” The most
Col. Devereux
(then major)
could do was de
1 a y inevitable
capture by the
Japanese, for he
Col. Junes Devereux. knew the hope
of any outside aid arriving in time
was futile. His forces were finally
overcome, but not until after they
had exacted a high price from the
enemy in the form of men and
ships.
This story', simply told by a soldier
who makes no attempt to be a pro
fessional writer, is gripping from the
beginning to the end. He has cap
tured and put down on paper the
courage, humpr, character and tears
symbolic of the men who call them
selves Marines—of a special race of
men who can laugh in the face of
death and disaster.
The last few pages show how Col.
Devereux and his men stood up to
the brutal treatment and starva
tion in the slave prison camps just
as doggedly as they stood up to the
Japs who launched an attack which
was sure to end in a dfcath stand.
Wertenbaker
Recalls Nazi
Bestiality
WRITE SORROW ON THE
EARTH
By Charles Christian Werten
baker. (Henry Holt & Co.; $2.75 J
Reviewed by
JAMES Y. NEWTON.
This novel, woven around the ac
tivities of the French resistance
movement, serves as a full refresher
for those whose minds already have
grown dim to the horrors of war.
Lest we forget too soon, it jogs our
memories specifically concerning the
bestiality that was the trademark
of Hitler’s reign in Europe. Man’s
inhumanity to man hit a new Itfgh
under the Nazis, and Mr. Werten
baker tries to make sure it will not
be forgotten. It is a violent and
shocking story in which the author
does a thorough job of indicting the
German soldier as well as his leader.
In this case the author commands
as much interest hereabouts as his
book. Mr. Wertenbaker was born in
Lexington, Va. He attended Episco
pal High School in Alexandria and
the University of Virginia. His first
books, including “Boojum” and “Pe
ter the Drunk,” dealt with life at
the university. Many of the short
cfnrioe V»p mntHhntpH tn thp Sahlir
day Evening Post more than » uec
ade ago were based on prep school
and college experiences.
Was Star Reporter.
Mr. Wertenbaker was a reporter
on The Star for three years in the
late 1920s. He went to the Saturday
Evening Post and later joined the
staffs of Time and Fortune. During
the latter part of the war in Europe,
Mr. Wertenbaker was Time’s chief
European war
c o r r espondent.
He now has re
. turned to the
European scene
for the same
magazine.
“Write Sorrow
on the Earth”
should be by all
odds the best re
ceived of the
half dozen books
Mr. Wertenbaker
has turned out.
It is a story
which Hollywood
might well use Ch»rle» Wertenbaker.
minus some of the raw and revolt
ing parts—one of adventure, tragedy
and an unusual love theme.
The story takes place around the
time of the invasion of France.
Paul Boissiere, a professor in peace
time, is a leader of the Maquis in
the mountainous Vercors region of
southeastern France. He has been
ac q tcu iwv jcaio iiuiu mo
wife, who was left behind in Paris
to aid the underground there.
, Helping French Patriots.
Paul’s best friend becomes Bob, a
young Spaniard, who is helping the
French patriots harrass the Nazis.
Bob is captured and horribly tor
tured by the Germans. He escapes
and recovers. But his spirit is
broken.
Bob is sent to Paris on a special
mission and for rest. There he meets
Simone, Paul’s wife. She sees that
Bob has been deeply hurt by his ex
periences. Simone gives him her
love, builds up his selT-confldence
and sends Bob back to the Vercors,
a new man. Paul makes a sudden
trip to Paris, where Simone reluct
antly tells of her infidelity.
Paul’s first reactions is one of
blind hate, both for his wife and
Bob. However, his feeling gradual
ly changes to one of understanding
toward Simone, when he finally is
convinced that he is the one she
really loves. He returns to the Ver
cors, his love for his wife deeper
than ever. The Maquis and some
American reinforcements are badly
routed by the Germans. Paul sur
renders to the Nazis and death by
torture in a futile effort to save
civilian lives.
Although Mr. Wertenbaker is not
always too convincing, especially in
handling the actions and emotions
of his main characters, the book
holds the reader’s interest. It may
be said that it is unnecessarily ob
scene at times. The author leaves
lffflo fw fV»© ImocHno of onv
stage of his story.
Easy Spenders on
A Florida Fling
BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA
By William Abrahams. (Dial;
#2.75.;
The author of “Interval in Caro
lina” gives us in his second novel
a sharp picture of an easy-spending,
hard-drinking set at a Florida resort.
When Charles Brand, a successful j
young novelist—at least he’d made :
money—returned from the war, he;
found his bewitching wife, Julia,
quite different, everything different.
Or so he thought. He took out his
confusion in drinking, which didn’t
help the domestic situation. At last
Julia fled to Mexico and got a
divorce. But the couple met again
in New York with some of their
Florida friends.
Mr. Abrahams’ theme of marriage
and instability has a coda which
probably will surprise you. Most of |
his characters are plausible, and
their story is ably written.
C. B. J. j
AN AMERICAN AT LARGE, by
Frazier Jelke (Duell, Sloan &,
Pearce; $3). The wanderings and
adventures of a New York stock
broker in war and peace from boy-;
hood to the presnt.
TbRENTANO’S WASHINGTON*^' D.'c! J|
| BOOKSELLERS TO TKE WOBLD 1
II enclose $. . Chars* ( ) C. 0. D. ( ) I
(BMks Ml pwtas* Im Is B. S.) *
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| N. T. IS • SAN nUNCTSCO 14 • PHILADELPHIA t • HONOLULU • PAUS | j
Taylor Caldwell Weaves a Brilliant
Narrative Around an Author's Trials
“THERE WAS A TIME”
By Taylor Caldwell. (Scribners;
*3J
Reviewed by
NINA PEMBERTON.
Francis Clair, Maybelle, his. wife,
and Frank, his little boy, sailed from
England in the spring of 1907. Await
ing Francis was a job as druggist
in Bison, a border town in upper
New York State The Clairs had
left behind them the stark and cold
Midland town in England where
their life had been distinguished by
unfulfillment and unremunerative
ness. Bison proved to be a tough
grind. The penny-pinching Clairs
moHa nn fHanric HvpH nn ffiP harp
necessities and made themselves
generally disliked.
In this hostile atmosphere little
Prank, the dreamer, the boy who
had no friends, passed the years in
misery and loneliness. He did actu
ally find a kin
dred spirit in the
person of Paul
Hodge. Paul
liked to listen to
the embrionic
poetry which
Frank strove to
turn into great
works. Paul was
to go out of his
life in later years
and the wrench
of parting was a
bitter pill. Only
once in awhile
did Frank find
joyinlife,for this T*r|or c»idweii.
boy was an artist and a dreamer at
heart and was not his father’s son
in any degree other than birth. The
Harry Truman Gets
The Blame for
Lots of Things
MISSOURI COMPROMISE
By Tris Coffin. (Little, Brown
& Co.; $3.)
Reviewed by
JOSEPH A. FOX.
Mr. Coffin, a radio commentator,
is unhappy about the Washington
scene.
New Deal sympathizer and one
time aid to Elmer Davis, who
headed the Office of War Informa
tion he has set, down in rhrono
logical order the happenings since
the death of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt. By title and context,
the book puts the onus for the
dolorous state of affairs as the
author sees it on President Truman
and those around him.
A paragraph chosen at random is
typical:
‘‘The predominant characteristic
of the whole White, House crew of
presidential cronies and hired hands
is small-town philosophy. This was
demonstrated after one of the great
crises of the administration. Mr.
Truman motored to a small college
in Maryland to collect another
honorary degree. The President
said wistfully, and from a full heart
that every one would be happier
and a lot better off if the country
could return to an uncomplicated
rural life.”
Congress also comes off second
best with Republicans bearing the
brunt of attack.
The knights in shining armor are
men who have left the Truman
administration — such as Henry
Wallace, who was removed as Secre
tary of Commerce, and Chester
Bowles, former OPA administrator.
Mr. Coffin writes well—if wasp
Ishly—but hardly objectively.
THE GREAT ^ND WIDE SEA
By R. E. Coker. (University of
North Carolina Press; $5.)
The author is an authority of
zoology and aquatic biology. This
is a comprehensive book, dealing
with the composition and currents
of the oceans, the effect of winds,
deposits on the bottom and the
life found at various levels. There
are many fine illustrations and an
adequate index. —C. B. J.
sordid and mercenary atmosphere of
life in the Clair household only
helped to fan the flames of artistic
frustration'which consumed young
Prank. On the advice of his school
teachers, Frank expressed a wish to
further his education and try for
a college scholarship, but this chance
was denied him. Book learning
doesn’t bring in any money, said
his father, the boy will go to work
as soon as he is out of school.
By the time frank was 36 his
father was dead, his mother back
in her beloved England. Life seemed
at its lowest ebb and Frank’s des
perate urge to write great things
still unfulfilled, when he met Jes
sica Bailley, the little girl he had
once furtively known when they
were both small children. Jessica
had money, breeding and became
the inspiration in Frank’s life. At
long last he is free to write and to
bury the years of unhappy child
hood and early maturity.
Taylor Caldwell has done a fine
job of description and displays an
unusual insight into the mind of
youth. Among her many books the
latest one to be remembered is “This
Side of Innocence” which sold 1,
275,000 copies in less than nine,
months.
Among the Native
Mountain People
Of West Virginia
THE MOUNTAIN JOURNEY
By Dorothy James Roberts. (279
Pages. D. Appleton-Century Co.,
New York; $3.)
Reviewed by
JAMES BIRCHFIELD.
Dorothy James Roberts, author of
"A Durable Fire,” and “A Man of
Malice Landing,” has gone back to
the scenes of her childhood in the
West Virginia mountain country for
a setting for her latest novel, “The
Mountain Journey.”
Miss Roberts uses an interesting
dramatic effect in bringing to her
readers the story of a West Virginia
mountain and the people who dwell
thereon. The entire action of her
novel occurs in the hours between
the first birth pangs felt by a
woman and the delivery of her
child on the mountain top.
In telling the story of Cace Mar
low and his wife, Laurel, and of
their walk across the mountain to
the hospital after an unexpected
landslide had blocked the only road,
Miss Roberts manages to convey
both the good and the evil that is
to be found among primitive people,
The Marlows were an oil family,
and for nearly 100 years had been
connected with the life, of the
mountain. They had brought in
money in developing the oil re
sources, had lost some of their
fortune and then had regained part
of their losses. The story of the
Marlows ana meir mountain ana
its people is told by Cace as they
trudge up the mountain in the hope
that its telling will divert Laurel’s
thoughts from her condition.
The night of their journey was
an eventful one. And as Cace and
Laurel moved upward in company
with Payne, a half-Greek, half
Chinese stray who has worked in
the Marlow oil fields they encoun
tered the best and the worst of the
mountain people.
On the mountain side they met
a young mountain boy who was
being hunted down by men and dogs
to avenge a spell his mother was
supposed to have cast upon another
child, and they met the best in an
old teacher who had dedicated his
life to humanism.
Much of the power of Miss
Roberts’ novel comes from her ex
pert knowledge of the oil industry
and of the West Virginia people
connected with it. “The Mountain
Journey” is an effective book.
AMERICAN PLANNING, by Cleve
land Rodgers (Harpers; $3). A dis
cussion of long-range social and eco
nomic planning from the perspec
tives of past and future.
Grandma Moses:
AMERICAN PRIMITIVE
Edited by OTTO KALLIR
Introduction, Louis Bromfield
$5.00
Eighty-six-year-old Grandma Moses is the
art “find” of this decade! To a public who
recognizes in her something really Ameri
can, really art,.really entertaining . . . this
edition of her work will be a delight. It
contains six full-color paintings, 39 black
and white halftones, 43 linecuts, comments
by Grandma Moses, plus her life history.
Please send me "Grandma Moses: American Primitive"
at $5.00 per copy.
Name_
Address_
□ Charge □ C.O.D. □ Remittance
* x .... . • ' . (
-1
Barbara Giles Writes a First Novel
Likely to Stay Long in Your Memory
THE GENTLE BUSH
By Barbara Giles. (Harcourt, Brace & Co.; $3£0J
Reviewed by harnett t. kane. .
Author of “New Orleans Woman" ^Plantation Parade,"
“Bayous of Louisiana:’
miss ones nu au.emjx.ea a aim
cult subject, and come off very well
indeed with It, achieving a book to
be remembered. Her scene is the
comparatively little-known bayou
country of sugarcane and* a French
civilization, her theme social and
family change several decades ago
—the slow decline of one class, the
slow rise of another. Once she gets
thoroughly into her subject, die
makes it real, believable and per
suasive.
Some, to be sure, may find this
book slow. The beginning drags,
with a, superabundance of charac
ters, rather too hurriedly introduced.
But if the reader holds to it, the
pattern soon emerges, and the in
terest rapidly picks up. There is a
certain diffuseness in the book, as
there is in many family novels. Yet
even this seems a part of Miss Giles’
subject—the gradual, almost imper
ceptible alterations in caste and
character through successive years.
“The Gentle Bush” has an ele
ment of freshness. Nobody has yet
attempted a book of this cort with
the Louisiana scene ss its locale.
Miss Giles is a perceptive, sensitive
writer; obviously she knows her re
gion and, her people. Certain of her
characters-^the peculiar, proud, sad
little ladies of the declining regime,
for instance—will stick in this
reader’s memory for a long time.
Th.ere are many conversations which
are pungent, exchanges neatly
Cholly's Secretary
Tells the World
About Her Boss
CHAMPAGNE CHOLLY
By Eve Brown. (Dutton; $3.75.)
Reviewed by
THERESA CARMODY.
As Maury Paul’s secretary for
more than 30 years, Eve Brown
learned well her gossip trade. She
is disdainful of both the society Mr.
Paul publicized in his Cholly Knic
kerbocker column and the ruthless
manner in which he did it, but then
she gives us a digest of the juciest
morsels from the column of the past
20 years. Mr. Paul loved gossip, was
enchanted with names that made
news, and yearned for money. Com
bining the first two, he acquired the
latter and counted himself a success
in reaching the top of his chosen
profession, the society columnist.
The key-hole columnists of today
might take warning from this book.
A good secretary may become a too
apt pupil. This biography of the
fat little man, petty, vain, malicious,
told with barbed subtlety, proves
Maury Paul an able teacher, if- not
a great man.
BARBARA GILES.
etch*!, descriptions with bite and
power.
As this is a first novel, defects ap
pear which Miss Giles will certainly
overcome in her later books. <That
she will write more of them seems
obvious.) The net effect, which is
the important thing here, is the con
viction that her book carries, the
feeling of inevitability from start
to finish. Peter Boudreaux, the
Cajun on the rise, is strikingly well
done; others are Pelicie, of the other
class, and Mme. Louis, grand dame
if there ever was one, and the vari
ous aunts and cousins, and also dead
ancestors. The members of the older
generation play as big a part in the
story as the living characters. In
sum, it’s a deeply felt, richly writ
ten work, a perceptive social study
that is a genuine accomplishment.
Autobiography
Of Baseball's
'Rapid Robert'
STRIKEOUT STORY
By Bob Feller. (A. S. Barnes 6
Co.; $2.7SJ
Reviewed by
GEORGE CLARK.
The book-sellers will tell you
thati in most cases, timing Is the
all-important factor in bow well
the public receives a new .book. If
the time is propitious, well and
good. At this date, it would seem
that Pitcher Bob Feller has timed
tils autobiography well. He’s off to
a good start this season.
It would appear that an inning
by-inning account of many games
that have long been forgotten would
not make interesting reading, but
it’s different in the case of Feller’s
book. Rapid Robert leaves few of
his games untold. A great deal of
“Strikeout Story" deals with Feller's
Cleveland Indian teammates; much
of it concerns his father’s contribu
tion to his success, and many pas
sages emphasize his long-standing
dislike of the Yankees. The strike
out king also tells of his own part
in the Indians’ famous “cry-baby"
stunt of going directly to Owner
Alva Bradley in 1940 when the
players staged a rebellion against
Manager Oscar Vltt.
MOST- DISCUSSED
ip you'vi been
unable to buy a copy of
KATHLIIN WINSOR*S
much discussed novel,
FOREVER AMUR, you’ll
be glad to learn t
it’s available again.
Over a million copiu
sold, and still going
strong! If you haven’t
_J
4 VCIVI U, IW¥ M Miffing
somithinb! It's a book
you'll want to ownI
KATE SMITfl says: 'TO guarantee once yea
read a few pages of THE MIRACLE OF THE BELLS you
“ down."
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