CHALICE

A more serious novel than the average rental level, with the emphasis on the salt-of-the-earth staples, and with sentiment, not too thinly veiled. Descended from the captains of Great Lakes vessels, Puss Halloran and Ace Fleming both inherit the tradition of the lakes. He becomes a doctor, marries an actress; she, recognizing the validity of their childhood love, sees her own marriage to a wastrel go on the rocks, but finds success as a commercial artist. Ultimately, with both marriages washed up, they come together, free to marry, and he abandons the medical career he hates, and goes back to the career of his forebears.