Farmer

ONCE WE HAD A CHILD--Hans Fallada --Simon & Schuster ($2.50).

Shopgirl readers who were melted to delicious tears by Hans Fallada's mannikin novel of the depression, Little Man, What Now?, found his next book, The World Outside, much less to their liking. Last week they opened Once We Had a Child with mingled feelings of alarm. Their feelings were justified for Once We Had a Child is a tragedy of sombre hue. But it is a lengthy book (631 pp.) and long before the shades begin to close in, light-minded readers could find all that they were looking for in the way of hearty anecdote, curmudgeonly character and tender sentiment. Author Fallada thinks it his finest book, and critics who looked down long noses at Little Man were inclined to agree with him.

Johannes Gaentschow was the hard-bitten son of a hard-bitten father. His family of island farmers went back into pre-Christian times, and each generation was a little harder than the one before. Because his father took a scunner against him, Hannes was condemned to be educated. While his brothers and sisters were brought up to be farmers he learned the three R's with the local pastor. Christiane, the Count's daughter, was his fellow-student, and they grew up to be harum-scarum pals. Then Christiane's father took her away and Hannes left home too, to learn engineering. After the War he went back to farming again, and one day he inherited his father's ancient acres.

When Christiane and Hannes met again they were both married, and neither marriage had turned out well. It was just a matter of time before island gossips had something more than rumor to wag their tongues over: Hannes and Christiane ran off together. But that was no life for Hannes who was a bachelor farmer by blood, and he left Christiane to rescue his rundown farm. Too late he found that she meant more to him than anything. After their child was born dead Christiane returned to her husband, Hannes to his haunted farm.

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