+ R of Rs 61:220 F ’20 100w + School R 28:315 Ap ’20 380w The Times [London] Lit Sup p242 Ap 15 ’20 30w
V
VACHELL, HORACE ANNESLEY. Whitewash. *$1.90 (1c) Doran
20–7763
The past, the present, and the future are represented in this story, and, as must be expected, clash. Lady Selina Chandos, widow of the Squire of Upworthy, writes with a quill and carries on her husband’s work along his lines. Consequently the picturesque village of Upworthy is in a state of decay, and sickness and death lurk between the rotten floors and leaking thatched roofs. Her daughter Cicely has been at school and her chum there was Tiddy, the very incarnation of modernity and daring feminism. Also the old parish doctor, owing to conditions in the village, is obliged to take on a partner in the person of young Dr Grimshaw. Lady Selina’s nearest neighbor is Lord Wilverley, an up-to-date landlord. Of course there is trouble and not until Lord Selina’s son, Brian, is dead in France, the village in revolt, the manor house in ashes, and Cicely has jilted Lord Wilverley and declared her love for Grimshaw, does Lady Selina realize that whitewashing time is over and a new day has dawned.
“A trenchant indictment of obsolete systems of estate-management.”
+ Ath p464 Ap 2 ’20 100w
“In spite of its sociological theme, a well told story untainted by preachiness.”
+ Booklist 16:351 Jl ’20