THE FAR BAYOU

A faint landscape of the back country as a small settlement-near the village of Bayou Bonne (again near Mobile) reflects some gentle eccentricities and some stronger emotions. Of the few that live there in a close community there's Horace Clover, a former professor, whose retirement is a voluntary and indolent one; Mr. O'Shennessey whose wife Elvira is tolerant of his dead drunken benders; Father Bacelli, whose vigilance over Frank Inteche- and his many sins of the flesh- is of little use; and Sylvie Shane, who yields with unashamed abandon to Frank Lateche, bears his child, hurts but does not destroy the love of her husband, Robert.. A first novel which has a certain grace and tender caricature, for an insubstantial to indefinite market.