Peaceful Summer

CANDLES IN THE STORM--Robert Littell--Harper ($2.50).

The novelist who confines his story to a cruise at sea, a cross-country trip, a sea- son, a day, a year, simplifies his problem. The "unity of time" in itself gives him beginning and end. Robert Littell adapts this classic formula to his novel of an artists' summer colony located somewhere north of Boston. The people arrive in June. In October they leave. What happens in between constitutes the story.

The Woodruffs are already there when the Crawfords come up--Jack Crawford, successful commercial artist; Susannah, his silent, handsome, able wife and their daughter Judith, turning 17, a modern, vivacious youngster. Prissy, gossipy Mrs. Nettleton and her sister Miss Kitty are looking forward to the summer, as is Fred Bratton who works for Mr. Leverett, owner of "The Poplars," and whose wife is expecting her twelfth. There is the old sculptor, Stirling, always welcome. It looks like a good summer among friends. Nor would Rita Woodruff's affair with the Polish boy who sings weird songs, or the youthful infatuation of Judith Crawford for Bill Woodruff (aged 46), upset the usual harmony. But there is a newcomer, Mrs. Fernanda Milbank, who leases "The Poplars" and arrives with her spoiled, affected, unhappy little daughter, Geraldine.

The story starts slowly. The reader is more than halfway through before he realizes he is entangled in a plot. Fernanda Milbank gushes with the women while attracting an admiring group of their men. Casting about recklessly, she gets a strike from Jack Crawford, reduces him to her terms. The two plan an elopement. Jack postpones the fateful day, leaves for the city on business.

Marty, the Polish boy, is discharged by Mrs. Milbank and gets into trouble. Rita Woodruff drives him out of town, concealed under a blanket. Susannah Crawford, Jack's wife, shoots her wounded dog with a pearl-handled revolver. Bill Woodruff, long ago in love with Fernanda, loves Susannah, at least as an old friend.

Fernanda is discovered by Woodruff lying on her bed, shot through the temple. A pearl-handled revolver is on the floor. Her diamonds are missing. The verdict is suicide. But it is some time later before Woodruff, convinced that Susannah Crawford has killed Fernanda to protect her husband, her home and herself, learns the truth about the suicide.

Candles in the Storm, despite its bloody climax, is a quiet tale of people who go to a summer colony to work. Its value does not depend upon its plot which holds its fragments together, but upon occasional flashes of insight into character.

The Author. Born in 1896, Robert Littell is the great grandson of Eliakim Littell, who founded The Living Age in 1844. His father, Philip Littell, helped found The New Republic. Robert Littell left Harvard to enlist in the American Ambulance Corps, served as secretary to Herbert Hoover in the American Relief Administration after the War. He has been on the staff of The New Republic, was dramatic critic on the New York Evening Post, the old World. His first book, Read America First, was published in 1926. Candles in the Storm is his second.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.