LADIES OF THE RACHMANINOFF EYES

by Henry Van Dyke ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 4, 1965

A first novel... a real talent. The title comes from the seventeen-year-old narrator Oliver's description of Etta Klein and her retainer, his Aunt Harriet-- ""the cracked parchment around their eyes, those eyes so like old pictures of Rachmaninoff's eyes."" It is the sort of allusion Oliver would have at his command. He acts as courier between the elderly women when their bickering has reduced them to spiteful silence. In 30 years, the nouveau riche Jew and her Negro servant have become closer than husband and wife. They struggle to dominate each other in every way. Aunt Harriet insists that Etta's son Sergeant, who had committed suicide, held her first in her affections. Mrs. Klein claims Oliver as a substitute for Sergeant, and he enjoys his role of polished intellectual on the way to Cornell. When Aunt Harriet and Mrs. Klein connive to bring in Maurice Le Flour, a warlock/ astrologer/ medium in order to call Sergeant to account for his suicide, Oliver senses disaster. Le Fleur is an evil butterfly but his presence does activate a degree of truth-telling in a household that has clung to poses. Oliver's self-image of superiority is peeled away in strips, Just as the truth about Sergeant is revealed in an intensifying series of shocks.... Characters are captured in crisp, comic dialogue and the author has a fey way with the trappings of black magic. Although not yet in her league, the novel is in Shirley Jackson's vein.

Pub Date: May 4, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1965

Categories: FICTION