Divorce in Britain

HOLY DEADLOCK -- A. P. Herbert -- Double day, Doran ($2.50).

Not all propaganda novels are against the Government or in favor of a Communist State. Some have smaller fish to fry. Such a well-sizzled fish is dished up in Holy Deadlock, serious satire on the English divorce laws. Though Author Alan Patrick Herbert is a professional humorist, rings all the ludicrous changes he can on his rickety theme, his book is an earnest arraignment. U. S. readers, accustomed to the elastic chaos of 47 different divorce laws in 47 States,* may not see much in Holy Deadlock to get excited over, but for Britons Author Herbert's circumstantial farce might well be too true to be funny.

The couple he takes as his victims are model exemplars. Married seven years, childless, increasingly incompatible, John and Mary agree to separate. He is a pedestrian publisher and works while she, a rising actress, sleeps. Two years after their separation each falls in love with somebody else, both want a divorce to remarry. John goes to a friendly lawyer, a divorce specialist. He discovers Britain has three sets of divorce laws, one for England, one for Ireland, one for Scotland. Under English law their only recourse is for him to fake an act of adultery, then let his wife's lawyer get the evidence, sue him. (If both John and Mary commit adultery, English law would punish them by never giving either a divorce.) Gritting his teeth, John goes through with it, finding an agency where he can hire a professional corespondent, taking her to a Brighton hotel for a weekend. Everything goes according to legal schedule. But unfortunately for John and Mary, their case comes up before the president of the Probate, Divorce & Admiralty Division ("Wills, Wives and Wrecks") who has a keen nose for collusion. He dismisses the petition. Stout-hearted John, under advice from his lawyers, goes through the whole business again, making sure that this time there will be plenty of evidence, though he is as guiltless of adultery as before. In spite of his hired co-respondent's coming down with measles at an awkward moment, the evidence is sufficient. Mary is given a decree nisi, to be made absolute in six months. But before that probationary period is safely over, disaster overtakes John and Mary.

John's new love is a quiet schoolteacher, whose job depends on her respectability. Mary's lover Martin, an announcer of the British Broadcasting Corp., has also to be above suspicion. Just once, however, Martin and Mary are tempted beyond their strength. A jealous woman writes an anonymous letter to the King's Proctor. Detectives investigate and Mary's decree is rescinded. Since both have been convicted of adultery neither she nor John can ever be divorced. She would live in sin with her ex-announcer, but poor respectable John would never get his schoolteacher. The philosophic lawyer summed up:

''Two or three truthful people have been compelled to tell lies. . . . Three decent people have been compelled to behave indecently. . . . One chaste woman has been compelled to commit adultery. Four people have been prevented from marrying the person of their choice, and one man has lost his job. But remunerative employment has been provided for two judges, one attorney-general, one king's proctor, the registrar and his staff, two solicitors and their staffs, two king's counsel and three juniors, two or three detectives, one or two policemen, Miss Myrtle, Miss Tott [professional co-respondents], and sundry servants of the law, not to mention the court servants and the domestic staff of the various hotels. . . . Chastity, Decency and Truth have been upheld, and the institution of Christian marriage has been saved again."

The Author. Alan Patrick Herbert looks as humorous and intelligent as he is. Had he been less of either he might now be wearing a wig as a King's Counsel. Educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, he read law, ate his requisite dinners in London's Inner Temple, began contributing to Punch. After serving in the Dardanelles and France during the War he was admitted to the Bar. Instead of practicing he resumed writing for Punch, and with E. V. Lucas has become its weekly standby. Ably versatile, he writes librettos for musicomedies, light verse, skits, novels (The Water Gypsies, 1930). He lives with his wife and four children in an old house on the Thames, at Hammersmith. An enthusiastic small-boat sailor, he owns a 40-ft. motor-driven canal barge in which he cruises up & down the river. No irresponsible funster, Author Herbert has a strong streak of the reformer in him, which he satisfies by at tacking legal incongruities. His Misleading Cases have long been an occasional feature in Punch. To expose an archaic law under which cowhide is still legal tender in England, he once tried to pay his income tax by writing a check on the back of a heifer, sending it to the Board of Inland Revenue. When he discovered that members of Parliament could get drinks in their restaurant all night long, while plain citizens had to stop at 11 p. m., he raised a row in the Press. In his spare time Author Herbert is a well-known first-nighter, plays social tennis and cricket. Says he: "I live a hideous life and very often shave after lunch."

Holy Deadlock is the August choice of the Book-of-the-Month Club.

* South Carolina has no divorce laws, permits no divorce.

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