THE MEMOIRS OF MAISIE

The capricious, sometimes confused, and frequently lecherous memories of Maisie alternate here with the happenings in the household which she shares with her daughters- and her granddaughters-and which parellel her more youthful, desirable past. These are the fancies and conceits of the very old- isolated from a world they can no longer share, and Maisie's lovers as well as her progeny (8), many of whom have died, form a ghostly cavalcade. More real is Paula, her granddaughter, whose dalliance with the gardener's son reminds Maisie of own hotblooded interlude with the groom; the defection of her favorite daughter Sissy's husband after the theft of money spent on other women; the death of another grandchild which brings back the loss of her own Lisa; etc. etc. Lighter in intentions than the earlier Diary of Love and My Hero, this again applies the terminology of the analyst's couch to the indulgences of the bed- and the end effect- rather than ribald- is precious and perverse.