MADAME DORTHEA

This fits neither into Sigrid Undset's historical nor into her modern problem novels. The time might have been fifty years ago -- it is singularly undated, in that sense. But the emphasis is on the portrait of a woman, the maternal, wifely type. The plot falls into three main scenes, -- first, the escapade which ends with Dorthea left alone to swing a large family, with sharply constricted finances; second her experiences in the outer world, where she goes to help out in the home of a dissolute neighbor -- third the family goes to a large wedding, and come up against outside influences which shape their lives anew. Somehow the book -- and the character -- fail to move one. There seems no focus, no conflict, resolved or unresolved.