A WEEK IN THE COUNTRY

A present-day novel from the author of the best seller, Adventure this brings together three brothers, long separated, to the northwest corner of England, where they had been born. There's the one who has stayed home, fought the decay of the farm and brought it back, but never lost his resentments, never quite been able to forgive, never even fully accepted as a wife the girl he had taken after his Kate's death. There are the two older brothers who had gone to America to make their own way- had become Communists- and had split when the older brother broke with the Party and gave a Congressional Committee some names. Mark -- his name- wanted to make Carl, who was still numbered among the top ten, see that he worshipped false gods; Carl wanted only to have Mark acknowledge that he had gone soft couldn't take it. They argue endless pages- and all the arguments, pro and con, of Communist and ex-Communist, are there. And Eddie, who cared only for his farm- and security- was caught in the middle. Mark had kidnapped his almost grow-up son, Sammie, and brought him home to England- but when the boy's mother followed, and claimed him, Mark had to get off by himself to straighten out his thinking. He went out on the lake- the kayak overturned- he was drowned. Had Carl watched him drown? Eddie had to know. Had Ruth, the girl who was wife in all but name, learned to love Mark? He had to know. Torturing himself, he sees his surviving brother off -- and turns back to the farm he'd fought to save. An idea book, with the ideas submerged in the welter of words.