Bess Grows Up

ELIZABETH, CAPTIVE PRINCESS (246 pp.) --Margaret Irwin--HarcourtBrace ($3).

Miss Virginia D. Mussi of Woonsocket, R.I. sat down and wrote a letter to the Literary Guild:

"After a steady diet of this type of novel, I find the very mention of 'historical romance' leaves me cold and uninterested. I believe that even a good thing can be overdone." Did the million and more members of the Literary Guild feel the way Miss Mussi did? A year ago, when guild editors polled their members, 75% said they were eager for most costume-built novels. Now, the Guild confessed nervously, a good many members seem to be agreeing with Miss Mussi.

The Guild's January offering, nevertheless, is Margaret Irwin's latest jazzed-up documentary on England's first Elizabeth. Taking the 19-year-old princess from the death of her young half-brother Edward VI to the marriage of her half-sister Mary, the book, is the second in a series on the redheaded Tudor (the first, Young Bess, was a 1945 bestseller), which promises to continue as long as Miss Irwin and her readers can stand it. Meaning to be more or less true to history, it manages only to be undistinguished either as scholarship or fiction.

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