MELISSA

There Was A Time out Taylor Caldwell's market; this has even less claim to distinction. The flair for story telling seems to have gone; the reader has little, if any sympathy for the incredible Melissa, emotionally stultified by blind worship of a sadistic father, inheriting his lust for power, with none of his thwarted brilliance of execution. Nor does her family claim much more concern. Her marriage- ostensibly for the rescue of a brother and sister who didn't want to be rescued; her husband, who lets himself be fooled; her sister-in-law plotting Melissa's downfall; the shallow friends of the family- all seem lay figures. And Taylor Caldwell's style still seems amateurish and bombastic. You can guess we didn't like the book.