Evening star., 1938-07-06
NEW BOOKS At
RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
FACES. BY Alice Grant
Rosman. New York: q. p. Putnam's

04 MANOANE1 OHAMONDs
UNFAMILIAR FACES. BY Alice Grant
Rosman. New York: q. p. Putnam's
Sons.
There is q distinctly quiet charm about
this story that classes 1t as nothing moro
nor less than pleasingly entertaining
It is about the widowed mother Of q
son and daughter and the widowered
father Of a daughter and son.
Not since Andrew Leicester had par
ticipated as q groomsman twenty odd
years ago at the wedding Of his friend
Robert Sandal have these two seen each
other. BY an odd turn of fortune they
meet In Paris Elizabeth Sandal Is on
her way to Switzerland to recuperate
from the succession of shocks connected
with and incidental to the death Of her
husband, and Andrew Leicester Is on
his way back to England after years OF
absence In remote lands.
Robert Sandal had not for the most
pagt Of his married life been q very
thoughtful or cornpanionable husband.
Even so, his death makes q gap in the
home circle. Spiritually and physically
exhausted by years of drudgery and sac
rif1ce borne uncomplainingly in the be-
lief that her husbands income was in
sufficient properly to support them,
Elizabeth Is justifably bewildered by the
shock Of his death, by the knowledge
that he has left her a comfortable for
tune and BY the immediate reaction Of
self1shness in her children. Oliver wants
the whole fortune turned over to him to
handle. Dorothea wants her share OUT
right, to do with as she pleases. Rela-
tives from far and near insist upon ex-
pressing their views and giving advice
as to the disposition of the legacy. When
Elizabeth refuses to relinquish her right
to manage things her own way she Is
regarded as stubborn and i'll and unfit to
be trusted with money
There are times in the life of every
human being when the desire to break
away from home ties and associations
becomes an obsession. Elizabeth Sandal
knows that She cannot save either her.
self or her children from unhappiness
except by getting entirely away from the
scene and taking stock of herself and of
the new situation. She decides to leave
England and go to Switzerland for a
vacation amid new associations and un-
familiar faces On the way to Mon
treux she stops overnight in Paris.
When Andrew Leicester remains for q
while in Paris on his way to England, it
is because he wants to be alone when
he receives and renews acquaintance
with his two children. He barely knows
them and he has had disturbing letters
from the relatives Of his dead wife con-
cerning their daughter. She had been
consigned to the keeping of these in
laws when small child because they
had convinced him that she needed the
sort OF home they could give her. His
information is that she has been in
volved in scandal, and he wants to
know about it from her own lips. His
concern Is deep and his knowledge of
young people is limited in the extreme.
The chance meeting with Elizabeth in
Paris hotel gives him an opportunity
to unburden himself OF his woes and
seek womanly advice. So he asks Eliza
beth to stand by in case of need.
SHIRLEY and William Leicester arrive,
stony-faced and politely antagonistic.
Andrew makes bad Job of dealing with
them, and they make q worse one of
dealing with him. Both he and Eliza
beth are stumped by the cold scorn and
silent contempt displayed by Shirley
and oy williams evident support of his
sisters hatred Of their father.
news OF certain attentions being paid
to Elizabeth by a man they never heard
OF reaches her children. so Oliver arrives
on the scene to protect his mother from
the stranger who must be bent upon
getting her money. The situation be-
comes more complex so far as the par
ents are concerned, and the younger
group is almost as badly confused.
IL Is, OF course. the misunderstanding
the cross-purposes and the confusion
due to lack Of wisdom that makes the
story. The plot is not far-fetched in
TINS modern age of unteachable youth.
out the manner of its handling is note
worthy because Of the sincere simplicity
and trustworthiness of the man and
the woman who have known more of
the odds than Of the pleasures of life,
wise Elizabeth, clumsy Andrew and
Vahent Shirley are trio worth knowing.