ALON THESE STREETS

Burt has tapped the rich vein of his intimate knowledge of Philadelphia once again in this story which grows out of its very being. Felix, an anthropologist whose passion for science has kept him single tracked through the years, inherits a fortune contingent on his living nine months a year in the home of his forebears. Hesitatingly he returns from the wilds and begins to rebuild his life along new patterns, learning to accept the responsibilities of his wealth, seeking purpose in the power it gives him -- and discovering that he isn't the misanthrope he had thought himself. Struthers Burt combines a sense of place and people and story, with a philosophical turn of mind and phrase that slows the story down for some readers, but adds savor for those who want something beyond a plot. One of the most successful portraits of a city that I have read, with something of the bite of Kitty Foyle, tempered by a more mellow and urbane point of view towards a city the author loves -- and hates.