PROXY

by Jane White ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 1968

Quarry (1967), Miss White's first novel, dealt with the evil inherent in the young; here, to some extent more by innuendo and indirection, she deals with a consuming woman and her loss overt capacity for destruction. When first met, Judith, sensuous and self-indulgent, has been devoting herself to her teen aged son Patch, cosseting him and ""clutching him as if he were some sort of woolly toy."" Her husband Victor, who has nominally left her, objects and dispatches a tutor, young Fintan, for the boy who has been housebound. Overexposed to Judith's sexual peregrinations (an Uncle Barnaby, his father, finally Fintan) the young Patch observes her through eyes which are increasingly less innocent; at the close he leaves her with a proxy or surrogate son and lover....La Maternelle--the mom--at her seductive and noxious worst, all contrasted and informed with considerable insight.

Pub Date: April 10, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Braco & World

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION