Recent Books

THE FEATHERLYS--Virginia Watson-- Dutton ($2.50). Tepid, conscientious attempt at Virginia social history, tracing with conventional romanticism the fortunes of the Featherlys from the first tobacco-pioneer of 1618 to the interior decorator of 1928.

PEOPLE ARE FASCINATING--Sally Benson--Covici, Friede ($2.50). Less interested in flesh-&-blood humans than in their foibles, Author Benson presents reprints of 47 polite, caustic sketches, mostly on the more trivial aspects of wedlock.

STRANGE HOUSES--Cora Jarrett--Farrar & Rinehart ($2.50). A variation of the Jekyll-Hyde theme garnished with modern psychological patter, this skilful compound of horror, romance, sentiment, evolves into a first-rate thriller as it proceeds to its logical, if incredible, denouement.

Non-Fiction

THIS Is VERMONT--Margaret & Walter Hard--Stephen Daye ($3). Serving up their descriptive material in stilted dialog form, varied by an occasional lapse into verse, Authors Hard do less than justice to their elaborate research and well-chosen photographs in a volume which is neither Baedeker, literature, nor textbook.

Murders THE ISLAND OF FEAR--Hulbert Footner --Harper ($2). Search for buried treasure on a neglected island in Chesapeake Bay supplies the background for a tale of cumulative carnage well-conceived but cheaply executed.

A CLOSE CALL--Eden Phillpotts--Macmillan ($2). At a crawling pace, a meager collection of one-dimensional characters goes limply through the required motions in a potboiler which will hold only the most tenacious reader.

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