THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TREE

by LeRoy Leatherman ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 22, 1954

This continues the story of Jim Daigre, begun in The Caged Birds (1950) when he was eight, and takes him through his first love affair. In his late teens now, he adores Margaret Ralney and his feelings are shadowed by the love story of Miss Ida who had been carried off by heroic but unacceptable Joe Wainwright, a Rough Rider, on his return to Big Creek. Miss Angelique, Miss Ida's granddaughter, is about to be presented to the local social world and it is she, although she never appears, who is symbolically central to these interlocking stories of past and present. Jim's puppy love and pride wilt when he is humiliated by learning that Margaret has betrayed him with a beau of her cousin's and that she has also read his love letters to her mother, and all is over when he finds out his own mother has rummaged through his things and read Margaret's letters to him. Sad and disillusioned he heads for Miss Angelique's ball and what the future holds. The introspective landscape of erratic Southern aristocracy in which the aura of the past hangs heavy has evocative, as well as muzzy, moments.

Pub Date: July 22, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1954

Categories: FICTION