THE TROUBLE OF ONE HOUSE

by Brendan Gill ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 1950

Some moments of fascination, implied rather than overt, the imprint of Catholicism and a heavy overcast of death for the story of several relationships which are uneasy, unresolved and never fully stated. Here is the expectation and final certainty of death as it affects all those who had known Elizabeth Rowan:-Thomas, her husband, cold and unapproachable who had withdrawn from the surfeit of love she had offered him- and her children; Catherine Gately, her nurse, who had been Thomas Rowan's mistress momentarily; Ben Maher, her doctor, who had always loved her but had not been able to save her; Margaret, her sister, who had countered Elizabeth's gaiety with a forbidding disapproval. And at the close Thomas Rowan is left alone to assume the obligations toward his children in the knowledge that he will fail them- as he had failed Elizabeth. There's an evasive if often compelling quality here, some writing which is sensitive and suggestive.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 1950

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1950

Categories: FICTION