A LESSON IN LOVE

by Marie-Terese Baird ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 1973

Describing this budding April and December romance is something it can least withstand -- it is a temporal business at best and, to Mrs. Baird's credit, she has avoided much of the gumminess the situation invites. Partly because Sarah who is only fifteen but very pretty -- even if her ""character"" leaves something to be desired -- is generally fresh and sassy and appealing; and partly because Ashley, the 66 year-old painter she picks up at the movies and then proceeds to see regularly, manages to control his feelings which are also desires. Mutually their ""affinity"" is therapeutic; Ashley (he does have a mistress who calls Sarah ""little girl"") begins to paint again after a severe breakdown and before the successive heart attacks which take place here; Sarah, who has been having problems with her ""Mummy"" (more than her ""hockey boots voice"") and her father, finally reaches some sort of relationship with them both (even after they've locked her in her room for days). So something is gained, as well as lost. Sentimentally it's susceptible stuff -- to be read with a catch in the throat.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1973

Categories: FICTION