HALF A CANDLE

by Jill Chaney ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1969

. . . flickering light. ""It was not what he had expected"" to feel miserable and hostile waiting for his London uncle to pick him up after the flight from Malaya. And when Uncle Gordon and the other Prices seem cold and uninteresting, recently orphaned Ralph, just fifteen, bolts and looks up eccentric Uncle Adrian, a sometime artist who doesn't have all the answers. On his own Ralph finds lovely Lesley and both she and Adrian draw out some of his inner doubts. Just when he arranges to stay with Adrian and near Lesley, the Prices arrive to take him back to bourgeois Twickenham. Neither resigned nor resentful; he kisses Lesley goodby, makes sure she'll write, then adds ""You're all I've got."" Romantic but not rigidly so and the apparent stereotypes--businesslike uncle vs. artist uncle--are not inflexible. Some of the scenes, however, sound stilted and Ralph himself is somewhat stiff. Amibitious but certainly not buoyant, and the problems overshadow the people.

Pub Date: April 1, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1969

Categories: FICTION