POWER AND PURITY

A genial account of the tarnished true story of a fabulously rich man, Joseph Eisenseits, from the visit to his genteel and presumably grieving wife, Virginia, after his death, and the ruin of the great man's pride and joy, a grand English house and a pleasance. This fills in the last months of the life of this lovable autocrat; his disappointment in his youngest son who chooses to write rather than enter the bank; the failure (chicanery here) of a large account the bank had underwritten and Joseph's determination to pay off all debts at his own expense; but primarily the destruction of his love for his wife, whose ""purity"" is a fraud, concealing a vicious hatred.... No more than light entertainment, but a likable character provides interest and some original reversals.