THE TREMBLING YEARS

With none of the flippancy of Out On a Limb or the somewhat saccharine quality of the Barton books, this is an at all times human and particularly appealing story of one girl's bout with infantile paralysis, its emotional aftermath of bitterness and fear and unresigned resentment. Kathy Storm, gay, pretty, bright, comes down with infantile in her first year at college, finds after many months that she is permanently crippled. It is Max, in the hospital, and also a cripple, who gives it to her straight, who makes her realize that many moments of self pity, loneliness and despair will follow. It is Steve, whom she once loved, who isn't big enough nor old enough to take her as she is, and who goes on to other girls. And it is Peter who finally brings her to a measure of peaceful terms with the world, when, after several years of wise restraint, he is able to make her override the barriers of false pride and pity...The sympathy here, which never slips over into sentimentality, the quality of youth which is very genuine, make this particularly affecting and engaging.