THE FOLKS

One rarely finds a novel which reveals our own middle-western small town life so sympathetically and with such balance and insight. The characteristics and local peculiarities are made a part of a whole, so that the people are endeared to the reader through intimate revelation of their qualities as they actually are. This is the story of a Scotch-Presbyterian and his family, -- of a man who is in love with his wife, and fond of his children; and who begins with thinking his children will do better than he has done because he has given them opportunities, but who ends by hoping fervently that they will do as well and find as much happiness as their parents have found. The backbone of the story is the stable, unchanging, ""ordinary"" life in which entertaining the Monday Club, Thanksgiving dinner and a Church Social take on great significance. A fine book, that those who are fed up with the abnormalities of people in most novels will find a relief.