The New York herald., 1922-07-30
Continued From Preceding Page.

behind this novel is, perhaps, some
thing what Emily Bronte might have
been had she lived in our day, and,
presumably, in a more wholesome,
normal environment. The modern
American obviously knows a great
deal more than any of the Brontes
ever learned. but there is a sort of
spiritual sisterhood.
This story is primarily a study of
what may be called an ingrowing
passion, developing in the end to a
killing malignity. The central figure
is a woman of fifty or SO, whose
Indian summer" revival proves
fatal. She is an intensely self-cen-
tered woman, more than selfish. Her
egotism rises to the dignity of a pas
sion, to the point where she is in
danger of becoming a case" rather
than a suffering and vicious woman.
There is a pathological element in
the whole thing, but Mrs. Hutchings
IS much too intelligent to over
emphasize it or allow the study to
become mere clinic in the psychol-
ogy of the abnormal. In fact her
Lavinia can hardly be called quite
abnormal; she is excessive, but real
enough. One has met her, now and
then, among living folk. She is a
shrew, physically as well as men,
tally; shrew who cannot be tanned.
AT any rate, her lovable, easy go
ing husband was not the animal
trainer to manage her. Mrs.
Trench was" the observer realizes,
"A desperately unhappy woman, and
her life story was made up of a
propitious marriage and six abnor-
mally interesting children" For be-
hind her marriage was a bitter dis
appointment and humiliation, and
passion that she never outgrew-for
the man who had Tilted her. She
married David simply as a make
shift, and at the end she tells US:
David. He doesn't count, one
way or the other. David was
never anything but a makeshift
in my life. If he had abused me
instead Of giving me all that af-
fection. it wouldn't have been SO
bad. 1 didn't want his love, and
l despised him because he would
so on loving me-. the way
treated him. / hated my children
because he was their father.
After they came / loved them for
what 1 could see of myself in
them.
Finally-at the age. Of fifty-she
runs away to her old lover, and after
a lurid episode Is again Tilted by him
after David's death. 1t is a bizarre
enough situation. but wholly con-
vincing, though the thing is far too
complex to admit any adequacy in
a brief summary. 1t is an extraordi-
narily keen and original study in
the psychology Of sex-but the
reader must not get the impression
that it at all belongs in the category
of the usual novel dealing with such
problems 1t is antiseptically clean,
and holds nothing at all for the
seeker after Utilization. 1t is even
austere in it's treatment Of ele-
mentals.
There is a great deal more to the
book than Lavinia. In fact, there
is too much more. 1t is a very large
canvas, and there are too many
figures crowded upon it for the well
fare Of the composition as a whole.
1t deals with thoroughness with no
less than half a dozen couples. La
vinia's children and others, and
sometimes they rather get in each
others way a little. They distract
attention. 1t is as if Mrs. Hutchings
had been afraid she might leave
out something, so she has emptied
the whole bag of tricks upside down.
Each thread is fine in itself, and
each, too, has a proper. place in the
whole, but they do not always keep
to that limited place. 1t Is an en-
barrassment of riches. Neverthe-
less, it is very skillfully handled: the
result is not messy. but it would
have been better if bit clarified.
Her style is excellent. There are
incidental nicenesses. happy phrases,