Evening star., 1939-03-08
New Books at
Random
By Margaret Germond.

A. Knopf.
Portia Quayne, weeping over the death
of her heart, is something more than
merely the heroine of very unusual
novel. She is the whole of adolescent
humanity, which at 16 is prey to
emotional upheavals from which there
is no escape and through which maturity
emerges with uncertain footsteps upon
an unfamiliar world. It is fortunate
for girlhood in general that Portia, in
personality and equipment, Is not typi-
cal of the average She is, in fact,
an oddity in character study, girl who
does not conform any more readily to
are unusual. For this reason she is less
convincing as an individual than as
a representative of youth at the thresh-
old of awakening womanhood.
A popularity of the novel is that not
any of its characters fits even fairly
well into the normal pattern of life.
Portals father had been a wholesome,
home-loving man until he met Irene, a
fragile and charming widow recently
returned from China. There had been
no arguments, no accusations, no bitter
denunciations when he confessed his
Waywardness to his wife. She merely
arranged for an easy divorce so her
husband would be free to marry the
woman who was to be the mother of
his child Portia had therefore come
into the world under a handicap. The
three had been fairly happy together
until her father died and then Portia
and her mother had lived around in
cheap hotels and rooming houses in
France until the death of Irene left
Portia an orphan.
Thomas Quayne, Portals half brother,
had been married to Anna eight years
when the hopelessly immature and un-
equipped orphan came to live with them.
Artiflciality is the keynote of their ex-
istence. Their house is bright, comfort
able and attractive, but Portia is puzzled
and alienated by the lack of that
atmosphere of home and of family life
for which her lonely heart longs Anna
has several lovers and Thomas knows
and accepts the fact. 1t is to one of
these lovers that Portia loses her heart
and goody portion of the readers
sympathy.
In an otherwise exceptionally fine
piece OF work. the introduction of Eddie
is disappointing. He fits into the pic
ture, it is true, wilbo.he odd assortment
comprising the Quayne circle of friends
and acquaintances. 4 character less
fagrantly obnoxious, however, would
have given more substance to a story
that projects the mature mind into the
past and holds it there with sympathy
rather than with smiles as it recalls
similar personal experiences. Eddie is
difficult to accept as the first love of any
girl with normal mental capacity, but
Portia falls in love with him, and in
love she means toStay
The author has endowed this girl with
keen analytical mind and with full
bodied set of emotions, but has given
her no equipment with which to brioge
the gap between the two 1t is in this
respect that Portia becomes an odd
rather than a typical representative of
feminine adolescence. She fathoms the
thoughts and defines the actions and
reactions of those about her, but she is
incapable of applying her capacity for
sound reasoning to her own problems.
She keeps an amazing diary in which
she sets down her impressions and con-
clusions about those around her, out
lines briefly the subjects studied and
discussed in school, and writes down the
usual heart secrets which all girls faith
fully record in their diaries. Such writ
ings, intended only for the eyes of those
who penned them, sometimes fall into
the hands of others. Anna, dismayed
by the disorderly appearance of the girls
room, finds Portals diary while straight
ening her desk She Is at first enter
tanned and amused by its references to
her and her friends, but the fun of
spying into the girls life turns to annoy
ance and anger as she discovers that
Portals clear-headed thinking and hon.
est analysis tears to shreds the sham
and pretense of the lives of those upon
whom she had depended for understand
ing and affection.
Portia knows that Anna does not want
her in the house. She had gone to the
home of these only relatives expecting
congenial family relationships and COM
panionship that would put an end to her
miserable loneliness. Being sensitive and
in fashion resourceful, she earnestly
endeaVOrS to adjust herself tn her now
surroundings, but she soon learns that
the effort is wasted. In despair she turns
to Matchett and receives from that ven-
cradle housemaid warm-hearted affec-
ton, tender care and sound advice. the
last OF which she discounts.
Eddie is in his early 2Os and is an
impossible and incompetent specimen of
young manhood He is solely concerned
with gratifying his tastes for comfort
and pleasure and already is jaded, dis
sipated and unattractive. He is tre-
mendously impressed with himself and
is given to indulging in dramatic dis
plays Of self-tutored temperament. His
only interest in Portia is that she is
young and lovely and possibly a new
conquest. His love-making means moth
ing to him. But to Portia it means
everything. He honestly tries to dispel
any illusions with which she would sur
round him by telling her exactly what
he is like, and that he is neither stable
IN his affections nor loyal in his friend
ships But Portia, whose only source of
comfort and affection since her arrival