A fair enough novel, of western Florida at the beginning of the century, this has to do with Arvay Henson who, as a young girl, becomes a religious fanatic in order to, forget a disappointing affair, but who gives this up when she meets and marries handsome, Irish Jim Merserve. Never quite certain of Jim's love, jealous of her sister, suspicious of other people's motives, Arvay becomes a captious, unstable woman. One of her three children is a deformed, psychopathic boy who is later killed in a swamp after attacking a young girl. Blaming the death of her child on Jim, and accusing him of not really loving her, Arvay does not approximate a successful marriage until she realizes the necessity of giving herself wholeheartedly to her husband. Through suffering, she learns to trust him, and the story ends happily. For women, although the sales possibilities are not too strong.
