The wine of astonishment

Description

“The scene, (with the exception of the last few pages) is laid in Chicago. The reader is introduced to Jim Clarke as a boy of eighteen, drawn by his curiosity to see the red light district under the guidance of a medical student, and impelled by his sense of decency to leave the low dance-hall where the trip ends. Later, he becomes engaged to a charming Smith college girl, Evelyn Day, whose mother, wishing Evelyn to make a wealthy marriage, disapproves of the poor law student. Under pressure Evelyn breaks her engagement, and marries Christopher Stanley. A garbled report of what took place, years before, at the dance hall, influences her final decision. After she has been Stanley’s wife, in name only, for six years, she finds out that she has been lied to about Jim, and decides to ask Christopher to set her free, but on thinking over her indebtedness to her husband, she finally tells him that she will be his wife in reality.” “When we put the book down we have the feeling that we have been brought very close to life as It manifests itself in two very real individuals.” “The troubled Intensity of young emotions grips the reader. The despair of youth that lacks the money to marry is well portrayed. Then comes the war to solve everybody’s troubles.” – The Book Review Digest

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