ONE TO GROW ON

A suspect but susceptible situation is handled with a soft- shouldered benevolence in the story of Anne Waters, all alone in New York, and deserted by the young man with whom she has fallen in love after she is pregnant. The other tenants in the brownstone where she lives- who have led completely separate existences prior to this- are all drawn together by her predicament and the pleasure in sharing the blessed event to be: an actress, Evelyn Estes; an antique dealer, Duncan Lapham; a copy reader in his fifties- Arthur Montgomery; and elderly Mr. Becker, whose wife is disagreable and disapproving (she is childless). They help her to furnish her apartment for the baby to come; bring their gifts- and offer their protective interest and help; Arthur is on hand for the hospital vigil; and finally, after the baby is born, Anne decides she can carry on alone.... For the very vulnerable reader- only.