Emancipated Female

WOMEN MUST WORK--Richard Aldington--Doubleday, Doran ($2.50).

The two waves of poetry and war have washed up much flotsam and some rare finds on literature's beach. A poet and a War veteran, Richard Aldington is neither trash nor treasure but an excellent example of a soundly second-rate writer. A poet by trade, Author Aldington has lately turned to satirical novels whose unenlightened realism makes good reading for those who like their humdrum with a seasoning of malice. Since English Author Aldington puts only his own countrymen in his pillory portraits, U. S. readers can gaze on them with a certain equanimity. Latest Aldington exhibit is the Emancipated Female, British style.

Etta did not so much believe in woman's rights as in her own. As daughter of the house in a stuffy Edwardian provincial town, she was expected to remain a dutiful child until she became a no less dutiful wife. Etta had what she thought were less middle-class ideas. When her parents refused to fall in line, she ran away from home to London and freedom. Stenography saved her from starvation, and a lucky encounter with a Lady Bountiful gave her a social secretary's job on easy street. A rich young socialite fell in love with her, and Etta leaned the same way herself, but she was a little too cautious to let go entirely. The War separated them, gave Etta another boost up the economic ladder. On his first leave Etta was prepared to give him all, but at the last minute her finer feelings overcame her. When they met again, it was too late, she was about to have a baby by a middle-aged barrister, whom Etta had tricked into fatherhood. Her post-War progress was rapid; she became a smart businesswoman, made a pile, finally completed the furnishing of her house by purchasing a young gigolo husband.

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