THE SLEEPLESS MOON

by H. E. Bates ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 1956

H. E. Bates, with perhaps his finest book in some years, returns to the mood, of his earliest work and his latest short stories, as against his more obviously popular writing of the war years (Fair Stood the Wind for France, etc.). Here, in a rural tragedy, there is that particular sensitivity to the countryside and its seasonal changes which matches and accentuates the emotional character of his narrative. This is the story of two rather hapless, helpless people- Constance and Melford Turner- Constance, whose great shyncss attracts Melford, a man of almost forty, of fixed habits and deepseated sexual aversions. So that when Melford is unable to conceal his impotence, Constance becomes more and more reclusive and there are the long nights alone and awake. It is the acquaintance, and then the affair, with Frankie, a casual, cheap, piano player in the local cinema, which gives some meaning to her life and eases the bitterness of her repudiation- now even greater as melford for the first time is capable of a relationship with a woman- the daughter of the landlady of a nearby pub. But as Frankie seems to slip away from her, and then leaves her, there is the saddening, frightening change in Constance- her ""breaking grasp on things"" and the inevitable ending which has been foreshadowed throughout the book... A gentle, haunted, and we use the word advisedly, beautiful book, which still may assure a greater critical than popular enthusiasm.

Pub Date: April 10, 1956

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown-A.M.P.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1956

Categories: FICTION