Evening star., 1938-09-07
NEW BOOKS AT
RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.

/
Three specific subjects form the pat
tern OF this unusual novel-subjects bear
Ing no relationship in the sense of de-
pendence one upon the other, yet drawn
together by Roger Vercel to develop q
single dominant theme in q story that
contains something Of beauty, some
thing OF ugliness< and something OF ad-
| venture.
| Interest centers chiefly in the massive
| cathedral on the rocky island of tho
coast OF France. Chosen as a back
| ground for a commonplace story Of an
| unhappy marriage, the human element
gives way to the influence of the old
| abbey as 1t casts its spell of peerless
beauty upon Andre Brelets AS seen
through his eyes and felt through the
experiences that eventually result In his
spiritual regeneration, the great archi-
tectural structure ceases to be an in
animate pile of decadent masonry. It
becomes part Of life and OF living.
And then there are the racing tides,
the treacherous Quicksands, the impene-
trable mists that roll in without warn
ing from the sea, the violent storms and
the mirages which only the natives of
the fishing village know how to combat
and defeat. 1t is in a raging electrical
storm that Andre and his beautiful wife
arrive at Mont st. Michel. And it is by
way of tragedy in the roaring incoming
tide that Andre arrives at q solution of
his problems.
In contrast to the sheer beauty Of the
Intangible influence of the abbey and the
fascination Of the conflict between man
and natures uncomfortable forces of
destruction Is the tawdry story of do
mestic incompatability. Andre takes a
position as guide at Mont st. Michel
rather than starve. He is an educated
Frenchman, young and not objectionably
handsome. He Is the son Of yacht
builder whose business died in the early
days OF the economic collapse and who
IS unable to give financial aid to his son.
Laura, the daughter of a rich mill owner
whose fortune was wiped out by the
| same collapse and who promptly COM
mitted suicide rather than face poverty,
resents the Ill luck which has befallen
them and rebels against the humiliation
| to which Andre has brought her. He had
held a big-salaried unimportant oflice
| in her fathers business After the fall
ure he had tried in vain to get work, and
as last resort accepted the place at
| Mont st. Michel.
Laura's hostility grows and her bitter
ness is limitless. She deliberately turns
away from Andre in an effort to force
MIN to leave the abbey and return to
Paris. He also is Inundated by the poy-
erty to which they have been reduced,
and 1t is with shame that he dons the
UNIFORM OF guide and accepts tips
from the tourists. He soon learns his
JOB. however, and though he fails to grow
enthusiastic about his work he gradually
surrenders to the fascination of the
desolate sands and to the influence of
the varied moods of beauty of the ca
thedral
Andre makes friends with a scholarly
guide named Hulard, through whose
knoWledge as an engineer, an archaeolo-
glst and world traveller the true archt-
tectural greatness OF the abbey is given
vitality and significance. He also makes
1rlends with fisherman and learns how
an 1nf1nitesimal miscalculation in time
will lead to certain death in the gigantic
incoming tide. He falls in with two
women cookie gatherers who lead him
over qulcksands and force him into icy
water to teach him lesson.
On another expedition with a party of
fishermen the group is trapped by the
Enthusiastically sudden and impene-
trable mist. caught by the inrushing
tide and nearly drowned. He experiences
the hcpelessness of the victims of mirages
and joins in the dragging for bodies of
the foolish ones who stay too long on
the wide stretch Of sands.
Through all these experiences Andre
Brelet continues to seek the answer to
his domestic problem. but without sue
cess Laura insults her neighbors, re-
fuses to leave their living quarters and
deliberately neglects her appearance in
an effort to create pity for herself 1t is
when her innate commonness comes to
the surface that Andre knows his wife
As the woman she is rather than the
woman he believed her to be. Her own
humiliation reaches an all-time low
when former Partisan friends visit the
abbey and find Andre acting as guide.
Leaving no stone unturned to force
Andre to take her back to the social life
to which she is accustomed, Laura wan
giles position through the good offices
of the visiting friends. Defeated and
knowing that while he never can live in
harmony with Laura he never can cast
her aside, Andre accepts the position she
rangements to leave Mont st. Michel.
x X
Just why the author should have
chosen to mix SO sorry q romance with
the beauty and significance of the abbey
and the thrilling adventures common to
the natural forces Of danger and destruc-
ton that characterize the rocky island
is understandable only on the ground
that he intended to emphasize the spiri-
ual theme through the introduction of
an extreme contrast. He is not given to
kindness toward his heroines, perhaps
by choice or maybe because of incurable
prejudice, but there would seem to be
little excuse for going the whole length
in tawdriness in story that otherwise
reaches high mark of perfection.
The novel is beautifully written and it
has a scholarly quality that invites re-
reading many of its descriptive and in
| spirational portions. Blending the forces
| Of nature with the magnificent material
! achievements Of man apd the problems
| of human relationships into a smooth
| and lovely pattern is workmanship of
the highest character. But with the
human element represented by woman
equally as unhappy but considerably less
crude than Laura, Tides Of Mont St.
Michel would stand better chance of
living for a 1onr time