WHITEOAK HERITAGE

In 1935 Young Renny, which I thought one of the best of the Jalna panel, and which went back to schoolboy Renny. Now comes White oak Heritage, which should fit in chronologically after Young Renny and next to the original Jalna. Post-war days, Margaret nursing her grand passion and shock, Pheasant only a child, Renny returning from the front and facing the responsibility entailed by his father's death, in raising the younger brothers. The story follows the thwarted romances -- calf love on the part of the temperamental Eden, and misplaced affections on the part of Renny, with startlingly melodramatic (and unconvincing) results. Frankly I can't see anything but curiosity justifying popularity for this lame duck of the tribe.