THE NARROWEST CIRCLE

A rather depressing little novel about the break-down of a triangular relationship, filled with backbiting verbal violence, but nothing physical at all. The Geigers, George and Nancy, a faculty couple, ask a former student of George's- Edith Martin-to live with them for the summer and take care of their little girl until their new baby is born. Edith starts off a little in love with George- whom she hero-worships, as well as admiring and liking Nancy. By the end of her stay she is disillusioned with both though still in love with George (to no effect). She dislikes their catty, intellectual friends, and has unchanged feelings only about the little girl. One rather likes Edith, though she is over-selfconscious, but as for the others- it is hard to see what she has ever found so attractive in them. Their so-called wit is thin and their charming stories seem less than that when written down. Worst of all, the continual complaining is boring- and the crises in which the characters are involved seem small indeed.