RETURN TO THE BEACH

by Margaret Shedd ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 9, 1950

A tentative, tacit novel which is less ingrown than her earlier Hurricane Caye (Harper, 1942) but still concentrates on shaded, shifting emotions as the refraction of death affects a family group. As death comes slowly to Paul, wounded on a beach landing during the war, there is the inner acceptance but never the spoken admission of what will come. For Abel Paul's great grandfather, with his predatory, patriarchal pride, racked by his recollections of the past, Paul is the only lien with the present; for Stephen, Paul's father, awkward, ineffectual, there is a sense of guilt towards Paul accentuated by the failure of his marriage to Ellen; for Laura, who had grown up with Paul, and who marries him now, there is only the consciousness of their love which obliterates the knowledge of the little time they have; and for Paul, there is the attempt to find the meaning of his death and a faith which will offset the fear that he has died in vain...There's a subtlety here, if not without artifice, which will attract a more discerning, feminine audience.

Pub Date: Nov. 9, 1950

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1950

Categories: FICTION