Evening star., 1937-06-09
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
BLIND MANS YEAR. BY Warwick
Deeping. New York: Alfred A.
KnOpf

DeeplIlS. NeW 4OIR. AllreQ "A.
Knopf.
Compassion and the spring and
wounded youth" tumble out of the sky
into the solitude of Knoll Farm and
chart new courses in the careers of
two people for whom life has been for
the most part an experiment in the
realm of loneliness that is peculiar to
those possessing natures too sensitive to
find happiness in free association with
their fellow beings. AS subject material
for the building Of novel the theme
OF misf1ts in the pattern Of social
relationships is not new one, and Mr..
Deeping does not resort to any of the
familiar tricks SO frequently employed
by fictionists to hide threadbare fabric
beneath surface Of artificial loading.
He simply presents as his leading charac-
ters two victims of incurable Affections
and tells the story of their remade lives
in narrative that exempli1es patience,
compassion and devotion as the virtues
through which human happiness may
be attained.
Rosamund Gerard is a recluse by
choice. Nature had been unkind to her
at birth by indelibly disfguring one side
OF her face. AS old viii, the gardener
at Knoll Farm. expresses it: Look at
her one side and she's pretty woman
look at her t'other-! Nature do play
queer tricks on we mortals."
Ever since she can remember, Rosa
mund has been trying to forgive her
parents for the port-Wine mark on the
left side of her face, like a splotch of
purple paint laid on fiat" With full
knowledge that their younger daughter
would inevitably be a spinster, Rosa
munds parents made sure that she
would never lack the necessities and
comforts of life, but they also made
sure that no man would ever make a
fool of her for her money An adequate
inheritance had made possible the con-
version of the farm estate on the Sus-
sex coast into secret sanctuary, within
the boundaries of which she had made
her own life and kept aloof from the
plying, II unintentional stares, of un-
thinking people She had become a sue
cessful writer and had accrued con-
siderable fortune from the sale of her
books AS Douglas Gerard she had ac-
quired fame and fortune as an author,
but life had robbed her of happiness
sky into clump of trees on the Knoll
Farm estate.
The young aviator had also belonged
to the separative class, not because
of physical deformity, but because of
the natural inclination of the orphan
who must make his own way to rely
upon his own resources and to fight shy
of social contacts. At the time of the
ho H,;,o
plane from lie Bourget and in a dense
fog crashed into the trees and wrecked
himself as well as the plane 1t is
with this background of the two who
rebuild their lives on new foundation
that the story begins
Miss Gerard is about thirty-five years
old and Give Strange is at least ten years
younger when on fog bound morning
his badly smashed body is carried by old
Will and Jane into the secluded home
OF Rosamund. Her physician believes
that the young man cannot survive his
injuries and that he will never regain
consciousness. A few days later, how
ever, it is evident that he will live, but
that both of his eyes have been de-
stroyed.
Wide gaps in the matter OF age make
little difference when two people need
each other. The step from compassion
to love Is invariably a short one, and
the circumstances separating the help
less young man and the lonely woman
from the normal contacts of life soon
bring both OF them to the realization
that despite the disparity in their
ages happiness lies only along a road
that they can travel together. They
are married and new interests occupy
their minds as they face the struggle
of defeating the terror of eternal dark
ness.
Kindness is not quality possessed
by either of Rosamund's S more fortunate
sisters. Married, invariably in need of
money, selfish and thoughtless, they are
surprised that any one would marry
their disfgured sister and they derive
a malicious satisfaction when they learn
that Give Strange is blind. A few
family descriptions occur to mar the
complete happiness of Rosamund and
Give, but these difficulties also are
| faced with courage and determination
and eventually settled.
The story spans year in the life
! of blind man, year devoted to the
| problem of overcoming helplessness and
| learning to be independent and useful
| as we'll In the working out of this
| phase of the story Mr.. Deeping has
| gone deeply into the subject and has
| produced technical, mental and spiritual
| lessons which reveal a profound study
| of the problems of blindness, on the side
| of those who have never known the
sense of sight as we'll as on the side
| of those whose eyes have beheld the
| beauty of the world and who have In
maturity suffered the tragic destruction
| of their vision.
Perhaps the story is too we'll regulated
| to offer many surprises or many COM
plex situations in domestic life to rank
| it as a dramatic or thrilling piece of
| work. Fortunately it happens to need
| neither of these adjuncts to add
| strength to its appeal to the sensitively
human qualities which respond to the
sympathetic treatment of the problems
which afflict and torture mortal mar
during his brief journey upon the earth
and which make or break him accord
ing to the measure of his fortitude.
Splendid types of sincere manhood
and womanhood, endowed with fine
sensitive natures. are the two PERSONAL
ties herewith blended in a story OF
courageous and unselflsh devotion tc
| service and to the creation of a spirituaI
| nobeness that is perhaps beyond the
| ability of unaffected and untortureC