A CRY OF PEACOCKS

Although at first glance this chatty yarn resembles a commuter special, involving at it does a maverick- one Luke Anders- who won't play Company rules, the novel is more of a woman's affair dealing with the efforts of Holly Anders to make a place for herself in a small Kentucky community. The Anders were both disappointed when they were at first sent there with Luke's appointment to manage a plant. But although Luke and Holly have grown apart with the years, they are ready to meet challenges; Holly is determined to establish a home and make friends, and Luke fore-goes company policies and involves as many as possible of the townsfolk in the plant's business. Company men provide constant obstacles and local people present a tangle of barbed relationships (i.e. bitter spinster Opal May and the objects of her hostility; lonely Lacy Lee and her attempts to relate successfully to men; Jesse Embry, destitute descendant of a wealthy family; etc.). But persistence pays and Luke eventually triumphs even though He Has Not Played the Game and Holly is firmly established. Harmless, with two danger points- appallingly brutal Negro caricatures and a couple of s-x scenes.