Evening star., 1947-07-06
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES.

Anne Karlan was IT, high school
junior in a Middle Western city
called Westrom. She was like a
hundred other girls of her age in the
town, except that she was. prettier
than most of them. She liked name
bands, boys who won their letters In
school, dancing, mammoth ice cream
dishes, little discreet necking.
Her home was like the average
girl's-the family got along, but had
nothing to spare. She fought with
a superior older sister who worked
and with an intolerant mother; she
felt secret sympathy for we'll
meaning snd Intellectual father. Her
ambitions were no higher than those
the other girls cherished. Shed
like to know a couple of movie stars
and the crooner of the moment; she
wanted to be noticed, looked up to;
some day she hoped to marry a
stunning looking guy with lots of
money.
Yet Mr.. Henning has managed to
make the story of this superficial
youngster into an absorbing novel.
In his hands, the story is not only
entertaining, but a careful char
acter study, which involves more
than passing picture.
Her Hero TumbIeS.
Anne as the story opens) learned
that her steady the school foot
ball hero, and her best girl friend
had suddenly married. The girl
friend, Betsv, was pregnant and the
marriage was arranged by her father
and two brothers. Fred, the football
star, had to go to work in grocery,
and the couple set up Housekeeping
in dismal shack on the edge OF
town.
Anne, feeling betrayed and heart
broken-for the moment-battled on
with her mother. Ashamed to face
her friends, she quit school and
went to work on succession of jobs,
none lasting long. If it hadn't
been for the nice young man.
Leonard, who roomed in her home
until her mother discovered her kim
ding interest and kicked him out
we'll, Anne would have been desolate
indeed. Leonard was quite old, all Of
Is, and at first he couldn't see Anne.
She struck him as a dumb, head
strong kid But she was so pretty he
liked to be around her, and some
how he admired her sometimes pro-
fame candor and her courage. Grad
TALLY he forgot the girl back in his
home town he'd gone with so long.
A Patient Young Man.
One night Anne and Leonard
drove to a neighboring town and
were married Leonard had a prom
ising job and a good salary for his
age and they took cozy apartment.
But Anne found, like many another
girl, that being a homemaker was
quite different from "helling around"
Leonard was quiet, inclined to
cultural things Anne wanted to
show him off to her high school
friends. Leonard thought some of
her girl chums were just tramps.
The domestic kettle began to SIM
mer.
But Leonard was patient young
man and there was gradual change
in Anne-she developed into some
thing more than tempestuous ado
lescent. She began to adjust herself
to the adulthood into which she had
thrust herself There was, in the
end, every indication that the couple
would make q go of it.
Humor and Pathos.
Mr.. Henning has a keen percep-
ton of the talk and the ways of
young people he describes. He has
brought out the development of
Anne persuasively There is both
humor and pathos in the story of
this girl and her immature little
world.
The author is painter of some
note. His pictures have been ex-
hibited in the Corcoran Art Gallery
the Chicago Art Institute and other
top-fiight galleries Now, at 36, he
has turned to another form of ex-
preston. It's to be hoped that he
will continue to paint with words as