A QUESTION OF JUDGMENT

by Phyllis Brett Young ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22, 1969

This is an American tragedy with a pleasant applique of small town life now or then--actually closer to then in tone since the story is seen through the evaluative eyes of Ashley, a self-designated innocent, a girl of twenty teaching in her first year. Circumstantially she runs into a nervous, defenseless unknown girl--covered with burns and bruises--who is later drowned (murder or suicide). She had been honeymooning at a shack in the woods with a young man with a record and worse yet the (homo) sexual protege of flashy Vinc Parmenter. Via the dead girl's misspelled and incomplete diary, via snatches of conversation with her seventh graders, Ashley realizes that whereas what really happened will exonerate Vinc Parmenter when he comes up for trial, it will sully her youngsters for life. The story is nicely told by inference and surmise so that A Question of Judgement leaves none to be exercised--it's a sympathetic soft option for all the ladies.

Pub Date: Aug. 22, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1969

Categories: FICTION