THE SPLENDID TORMENTS

by Margaret Culkin Banning ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 1976

This is the first woman's post-Watergate novel lending, as only Mrs. Banning can, a certain double-chin-up nobility to that ""dreadful business"" in ""that unhappy city."" Mostly it's about Baird Fleming who had gotten out (into a multinational corporation) just in time, in fact suspiciously so as it will emerge later in one of those exposes in ""execrable taste."" His wife Jane has cause to wonder but is glad when Baird decides to go back into politics and show that there can be men of ""good intentions"" serving the government. Mrs. Banning's a busy plotter so there's lots else--about their friend Charlotte, wife of one of those who landed in jail, who committed suicide, about a British journalist who momentarily attracts Jane away from her home and children; etc., etc., before it all ends the way it should when after all it really shouldn't have happened to these ""victims."" Nothing really changes, does it, particularly if you've always worn orchids to political dinners.

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1976

Categories: FICTION