Evening star., 1946-05-12
Countess WoIdeck's S
NeWNoveI Draws On
Historic Parallels
LUSTRE IN THE SKY
By Countess Wdldeck. (Dou-
bleday; $2.75.)

oy NohhLCoo w utuCIh. tAOU-
bleday; S2.75J
History in terms of the boudoir
being always good grist to the fic-
tional mill, this novel of the love
affair of Talleyrand and his niece
by marriage, Dorothea, Comtesse de
Perigord, should have a welcoming
public at any time. And with inter-
national conferences a matter of
current interest, the book just now
may have an additional reason for
popularity, for its background is the
Congress of Vienna, which under
took to remake Europe after that
one of the continents customary
slaughter pests which is associated
with the name of Napoleon.
Countess Waldeck, the author. draws
literally on the parallels which exist
between the problems of the men
Of 1915 and the negotiators who to-
day are once more picking up the
perennial task.
At the same time she remembers
that, in a good novel for a large
public, love is all and bears down
heavily on that respected truth. She
has turned out a romantic tale in
which there is enough history to
satisfy such earnest readers as like
to learn something from a book.
Her grammar is sometimes frightfui.
Charles Maurice, Prince de Talley-
rand, famous scoundrel of some
80 years, went to the Vienna Con-
gress taking his nephew's wife, the
21-year-old Comtesse de Perigord, to
act as his hostess. He represented
the France of the restored Bourbons
on this occasion, having been, as
every one knows, an accomplice of
Napoleon, both a supporter and an
exile of the revolution, and a priest
and bishop under the ancient
regime. He had a wife at the time
and his reigning mistress was the
Comtesse de Perigord's mother. But
he formed a liaison with his youth
full niece which endured to his
death. According to the enthusiast
tic Countess Waldeck, it was Talley-
rands Perfect Love.
Nothing could exceed the verve
with which she describes the devel-
opment of this tender passion. Nor
could anything since Einor Glynn
match the gallantry with which she
insists that, in a great mans life, a
womans love is the element of
strength. Talleyrand did a brilliant
job at Vienna, as history records,
but the countess tells us that the
source of his inspiration was alto
gether Dorotheas. love. Just how
Old Talley'' made it without Doro-
thea Through his breadth
career the preceding go years is
not explained.
So much for the romance AS
for the international background,
Countess Waldeck does creditable
job on it. Her purpose has been to
point the parallels between then
and now, and to emphasize the
theory that, after a general war,
there must be no horse-trading in
territory between the victors and
that the governments set up in lib
Grated countries must be legitimate
rather than revolutionary if they
are to endure. Her main object les
son has to do with Russia, which
then, as recently, greatly assisted in
the overthrow of the tyrant by the
circumstance of being attacked after
first having made deal with him.
Russia, in 1915, grabbed for a piece
of Poland and so set the example
for other grabs. Plus ca change,
plus c'est la meme chose, observed
the novels hero on one occasion,
and while the author heroically re-
trains from quoting his well-known
tag, she obviously has it strongly
in her mind.