WIDE IS THE GATE

The third of the Lanny Budd stories, again a wallopping big book, too long for my money, and incredibly amateurish in style and manner. The story is more interesting, as Lanny goes over to the left, and finally breaks with Irma over his aid to the cause and his rescue of Trudi. She divorces him, and at the close he marries Trudi and gets her out of France, where she has been part of the underground organization. He also becomes involved in efforts to make contact with -- and rescue -- young Alfred Pomeroy-Nellson from a Franco prison, and the last quarter of the book is set in Civil War Spain, and follows this adventure to a successful termination. Europe -- and America -- in the period of growing unrest and isolationism as the background.