THE GENERAL'S LADY

With Paradise Esther Forbes was accepted as first rank historical novelist, and of best selling calibre as well. Now comes The General's Lady, not, perhaps, as important a contribution to scholarship as Paradise, but an even better story. Once again she has drawn on her thorough knowledge of colonial New England for her picture of the little town near Worcester, where a Tory wife of a Revolutionary general held her head high above her neighbors and incurred their dislike and resentment. She was cold -- or so her neighbors and her husband thought -- until a young British officer, nursed back to health twice in her home, fanned her passions to hot flame, and fed her need for admiration and possession. Dilly, a staunch patriot, was also caught in the web of her fascination, and these three played out a bitter drama to its end. A good story, superbly told. Should be easy to sell, easy to rent.