THE MAN OUT THERE

If you were to Judge a book by its chapter headings, a policy any self-respecting reviewer would eschew, you would still get a pretty good idea of what was going on and also of the kind of sentimental, slightly superannuated woman's novel this is: from ""The Judge's Wife"" (she's Vale, but half his age) to ""The Judge's Daughter"" (she's Claire and very resentful of her young stepmother) to ""Jef Broome"" (Claire has a crush on him, but he falls in love with Vale and she with him and they have an alfa ire.. cf. ""The Lover"") to ""Disaster"" (the Judge has an accident, becomes a paraplegic) to ""Home-coming"" (Vale comes home, dutifully and doesn't run off with her lover bearing his Child) to ""Revelation"" (was the accident on purpose?). We now have reached the final chapter ""The Summing Up"" which presents more of a problem: this is the kind of novel some women read even though black and white issues only rarely darken the Ektachrome scenery and nothing dampens the prose--""the sap rising like a strong pale bloodstream to nourish every branch and leaf and honey-fragrant flower."" Those that read it may find their fingers sticking to the pages they turn.