MICHAEL'S WIFE

by Gilbert Frankau ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 1948

A not particularly significant addition to Mr. Frankau's long list of novels, and one that in its very Britishness, will fail to qualify for the present vogue of novels dealing with mental disorders. This story concerns Michael Collyer, a British journalist invalided out of the army in 1942, and of the double process of first his wife's nervous breakdown, and then his own failure to meet the situation brought into focus by her recovery. For with recovery, she decides they must have a child- and Michael, his impotency cured by the psychiatrist who had handled his wife's case, learns that he is sterile. He chooses to walk out of her life -- and just as he realizes that it is God's will he should live, a bomb hits him. The handling of mental illness, of the relation between Michael and the wife he loves but could not help are competently done, but the story bogs down in introspection and overlong dialogue and unnecessary complexity.

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 1948

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1948

Categories: FICTION