Delafield v. Rome

TURN BACK THE LEAVES--E. M. Delafield--Harper ($2.50).

Though Author E. M. Delafield expressly states in a foreword that this book is not intended as propaganda against the Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholics will find little aid and comfort in it. Most of the characters are Catholic and are shown in a kindly light, but the villain of the piece is also the most faithful churchman. The tragedy hinges on the Catholic rules for marriage, against divorce.

Sir Joseph Floyd, head of an old English Roman Catholic family in the '90s, thought he had a vocation for the priesthood. He married only because his confessor told him it was his duty to continue his line. There was no love between Sir Joseph and his pretty young wife-- when she was seduced by the fascinating, Protestant Lord Charles Craddock his distaste for her turned to horrified hate. But he took her back, again on advice of his confessor, on condition that she should never see her illegitimate daughter. Then he made her the mother of four children. She submitted to her penitential duty, died in the last childbirth. Sir Joseph married again. Stella, the lovechild, was brought up in London by her father, who paid all the bills but never saw her. Later she was taken in by Sir Joseph's family, so that she might become a good Catholic. But only one of the children remained orthodox: she took the veil as a penance for another sister, who had married a Protestant and was living in mortal sin because her children were being brought up as Protestants; for Stella, who married a divorced Protestant; for her brother, killed in the Great War without benefit of clergy. Sir Joseph became a religious maniac and his wife and only remaining daughter became his nurses.

Author Elizabeth M. Delafield (Dashwood) is partly French, has lived in the Malay States, but her books are all of English country and life. Her work has had a moderate, steadily increasing success in the U. S. A keen, faintly satirical observer, in Turn Back the Leaves she has written a tragedy of frustration too deep for satire. During the War, Author Delafield did Red Cross work, wrote her first novel in her spare time. She lives in Devonshire. Other books: Mrs. Harter, The Chip and the Block, Jill, The Way Things Are, First Love.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.