MELISSA STARKE

A good tale, and one that should be easy to sell to the market of So Red the Rose, although this is a story of post-war disillusion. The seamy side of the years in the South after the war, through the story of a family that had lost materially and that was disintegrating through poverty, humiliation, and the curse of morphine. The tragic aspects of the book are both more interesting and mor convincing than the last section, in which Melissa stages an almost sensational comeback. (But, the ending will guarantee wider sales, perhaps). The publisher states: ""We are so enthusiastic about the book that we are guaranteeing it. Anyone who does not enjoy it can return it for full credit."" That should make it a good book to gamble on.