THE UNBELIEVING WIFE

In The Return of Christopher, Margaret Echard used the theme of the regeneration of a minister as springboard for a story with some spiritual implications. Her intent, in this new story, is to take a minister's wife, and trace the changing climate of her faith and adjustment to a role she'd not have chosen. The final impression is an almost wholly unbelievable picture of present day life in a Presbyterian manse in California. It is a contrived and artificial tale of a young, aspiring minister and the wife who tried to fit into his pattern. The elements are there for making a somewhat sensational soap opera type of story, which never comes into focus. Nor does the other approach to a story with a spiritual message achieve reality. The husband encounters virtually none of the nagging problems that are integral to his work, makes no mistakes. And the story never gets off the ground and one never quite believes in the yough and reality of the proponents, the religious implications of the issues, nor the sincerity of the wife's ultimate seeing the light. Too bad, for Margaret Echard showed in The Dark Fantastic a gift for regional and story valies, none of which are evident here.