BEYOND SURRENDER

Her most ambitious novel and the first period novel she has done -- in this story of bankrupt, ruined, post Civil War South Carolina. It is a substantial, sympathetic presentation of the desperate predicament of the plantation aristocracy, returning to barren land and no money; of Negroes confused by their new status, demanding more than the whites could give; of crooked carpetbaggers, of the socially encroaching class of tradesmen who grew rich at the expense of the old regime. Denis is determined to salvage his plantation despite his creditor's demands, and those of Ben's daughter, Polly, whom he marries, only to find her petulant, pleasure loving, self-seeking. His hopeless love for Sharon, the hard violent years of reconstruction, the worry of necessity of sacrificing land that the plantation go on -- all robustly, holdingly told. A good job, with a wide general appeal. Rentals and sales.