BRIDGET MALWYN

by Martin Boyd ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 1949

This has some of the strengths and some of the weaknesses of Lucinda Brayford -- and like that book, the first two thirds are better oriented than the last third. Again a story of a woman- and of successive marriages. But where Lucinda seemed to achieve stature and focus, after the disintegration of her first marriage, Bridget Malwyn degenerates steadily. Hers was an unhappy start, in her parentage, her seesaw from poverty to riches and back again to poverty. But basically, it was her lack of fundamental character that betrayed her, a lack that betrayed itself only when the four years of happiness in her first marriage, ended with her husband's death. Was it security she sought in her subsequent marriages, -- security for her children, first, security for social position, second? She was uncertain herself of her motives. She destroyed what might have brought her happiness. Even her friendships rested on falsity. Through her story- not a pleasant one- the reader sees various levels of England's social life over two generations and a world war. The story ends- as it begins- in Ireland, and Bridget is living as Lady Malwyn, an empty life, with an empty title, in a hollow castle.

Pub Date: Oct. 24, 1949

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1949

Categories: FICTION