FOREVER STRANGERS

The storm in the twisted mind and soul of a man, Barney Cousins, is the focal point in this strange story. Once again the background is Maine, - a coastal town and a lumber camp inland. Once again the town characters background a story centered on a few. But this time, the background is shadowy in contrast to the tortured progress of Barney's disintegration. Barney was a younger brother of one of the town's top lights, Sam. And Sam had always felt it incumbent on him to rescue Barney from his scrapes, to bail him out when it became a matter for the police, and to treat him as an adolescent rather than the grown man he was. Then Barney is hit by an uncontrollable flame of passion for a rather tragic girl, Saba- divorced, living with queer, unbalanced parents, saddled with two children, the wispy, homely, sharp Ann, eight, and Chris, beautiful- and an idiot. But Barney accepts her with her burdens- and without a job, except what his brother gives him; and then goes berserk, driven by jealousy and an overwhelming conviction that he too is mad. A haunting, frustrating sort of story.