KITTY FOYLE

Surprisel! Surprise! This proves how facile Chris Morley can be, for this is a far cry from everything he has done, whether whimsy, humor or intellectualized satire. And don't be too reliant on the catalogue description, that this story of Kitty Foyle is symptomatic of an era in the Anne Vickers school. This is primarily the story of a shanty Irish girl, how she was born, bred, and put through the mill, done in stream-of-consciousness tough-baby style (kind of Donald Henderson Clarke manner). But it's right good reading. Kitty is a high spirited, strong, and very straight young woman. Her early childhood in Philadelphia, daughter of a crude but lovable cricket coach, is nicely done, giving quite a feel of the city, its lethargy, immutable traditions, etc. At sixteen she meets Wyn, a sweet weakling from a blueblood family, whom she is to love for all time. She lives with him, becomes pregnant, but does away with the child because she is unwilling to tie Wyn to her, knowing that he cannot buck his family if he marries her, and knowing that she will be dishonest with herself if she broadens her a's for him. Career girl on the side, she works later in New York for a cosmetics outfit, and at the close thinks of marriage to a man she does not love for companionship and stability. There's some telling background detail on Philadelphia, points east and west, there's some ingenious writing on the stunt side, but all in all it's semi-light fiction of the Myron Brinig type. Your customers may not recognize Morley in it -- but will enjoy it.