SIGNATURE OF TIME

Competent handling of a contemporary problem in the story of a returned war correspondent suffering from neurotic aftermath of German prison camp experience. Maury Hazard, returning to his newspaper job, finds himself unable to write and goes to his home on Lake Erie to try to reorientate himself. Then his twin brother, Dave, returns, really in bad shape from serious wounds, and with little to live for. He starts out immediately to work on the vineyards and plan for the future, but contracts pneumonia and dies. Only then does Maury find peace and a purpose in his life, realizing how much he has to live for. He falls in love with Gerda, a singer fighting to win back her lost voice, and starts out on a new life. Flashbacks tell of early settling of the island wilderness, of clearing the land and raising sheep, of setting out vineyards; of how Maury's forebears kept notebooks on archeological studies and philosophical ruminations; of the father who could not settle down and met his death smuggling during prohibition; of Maury's and Dave's boyhood days. Regional values for an interest-compelling story.