ON A DARKLING PLAIN

by Clifford Irving ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 27, 1956

.... And ""Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight""-from the Florida Keys to New York are a group of young people- Mike Donnenfeld, Pete Reed and Joe Macfarlane who had been friends at Cornell together some years back; Fletch whom Mike had once loved, Liz- with whom Macfarlane is now living, and Barbie, Macfarlane's sister, whom Pete is to marry. It is Barbie who sends Mike down to get Macfarlane- he is running a shrimp boat and is unwilling to leave the freedom of this life- and Liz. Once back in New York, he realizes that Barbie is miserable over the marriage to come- but forced into it because she is pregnant. Mike meets up with Fletch again- and Fletch is now ""one of the lost ones""- wanton, unable to go back to Mike, unable to find satisfaction with another man. So that her death- in an accident- is a release; Barbie, injured at the same time, loses the baby and is free; and finally Macfarlane is able to return to Liz.... A first novel of chafed spirits which circulate in a climate of excess and despair, this seethes with sex. The publishers however are promoting it.

Pub Date: April 27, 1956

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1956

Categories: FICTION