THE ART OF LLEWELLYN JONES

by Paul Hyde Bonner ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 27, 1959

F. Townsend Britton, a career diplomat of fifty odd, carefully charts his disappearance from an authoritative, rich wife to become the widowed, retired, middle-western Lew Jones, and the character he creates is a great enough impersonation to fool everyone- except perhaps Terry, a girl he meets in Cincinnati. Escaping entanglements, Jones retreats further to a town in South Carolina where he begins to sketch as a pastime before he fully realizes his serious ambition to become an artist. Europe is one step further from Terry- to whom he can offer little, and in Paris he finds the ideal house and a perfect maid who is also the model and the mistress to best serve his talent. His bold naturalism (i.e. vibrant nudes) attracts the attention of a leading dealer and collectors, among them his wife; her vindictive threat to expose him is retracted; and finally he is secure in the life he has made for himself which now also makes room for Terry.... Admirers of Mr. Bonner's civilities of the hunting and diplomatic set will find that he too has had a change of life; that the joke gives way- long before Mr. Bonner does; and that Lew Jones, whose artistic license enables him to be something of a boor- is also a bore. He is also not above using some of the hoariest cliches in the business.

Pub Date: July 27, 1959

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1959

Categories: FICTION