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THE JUDGMENT OF EVE by Edgar Pangborn Kirkus Star

THE JUDGMENT OF EVE

By

Pub Date: Aug. 26th, 1966
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Another haunting work by the winner of the International Fantasy Award, this is a prize in itself. It tells the story of the post ""One Day War"" Eve who until the age of twenty-eight lived in forced seclusion with her mother and the moronic Caleb, the only other human who had appeared from nowhere as a child. The ""brave new world"" which her mother has hoped for arrives in the form of three different but desirable men: Kenneth, attractive, near-sighted, sensitive, ""a thinking man""; Ethan, the strong but understanding giant, not as simple as he appeared, who could ""discover no words that could tell a woman what is love""; and Claudius, much older, wiser, a violinist robbed of his talent by a war that ruined his left arm, who had left bitterness for an appreciation of life and hope. Eve, with the instincts of her predecessor, uses a device from the pages of the Brothers Grimm-- sending the men on an odyssey to bring back the answers on which she will rest her judgment. This follows the separate adventures of the men in a landscape so real it has a grainy texture. The different personalities offer an almost impossible choice-- a Lady or the Tiger? An enigmatic call to imagination caps this remarkable vision that may inspire re-reading.