STAND IN THE WIND

by Jean Little ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

Crushed because a broken arm prevents her from going to summer camp at last, Marsha decides to play camp at her family's beach cottage when mother returns to their town house to entertain a college roommate and the roommate's two daughters come to stay at the cottage with Martha and her older sister Ellen. Predictably Rosemary, the cool, stuck-up older visitor, becomes part of the group during her stay, and Martha helps timid, babyish Kit, her own age, to stand up both to the wind (until now she's been terrified by all sorts of storms) and to her domineering mother and older sister. The days, some rainy, drag on, and though all the incidents are described with an eye for revealing personalities and relationships, nothing is brought out during a detailed gin rummy game, for example, that we didn't already know. Somehow the story seems too trivial for its length, which could have been cut if Little trusted her readers to catch on without all the repetition and spelling out. Disappointingly slight and unsubtle, then, after the charm and insight of Kate (1971) and Look Through My Window (1970).

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975

Categories: FICTION