EVERY DAY BY STORM

A hearts and flowers melodrama that would make a male audience wither or at least wince, this is still written with a vigorous grace and a convincing polish. Matt and Mary, childless (her miscarriage) find life and their marriage restored, renewed after the adoption of three month old Tim: ""The best of times were here, were begun."" Their mutual fulfillment is shattered however, when Matt discovers that he is dying of terminal cancer and they lose the child. It's Matt's story, his uncertainty, adjustment to the idea of death after an impotent life, his attempt to relate to Mary who, undergoing the agonies of Tim's return to the agency, bitterly blames Matt for her childlessness. Mary's rejection drives Matt into the arms of the office secretary for a satisfactorily passionate affair and once into the sympathetic bed of an alcoholic friend. But the love of Sue, the secretary, is what eventually saves and immortalizes him...she becomes pregnant. Moment to moment emoting that will drive the ladies to their handerchiefs and on to the next page.