Books: Problems

THE BACK OF THE BOOK—Margaret Leech—Boni & Liveright ($2.00). Vergie Stilson was 28 years of age and not unattractive. She pictured herself as “an author of brilliant subtlety,”until she found that her embryo novel was no more than a bundle of disjointed reminiscences. Meanwhile, she worked in the offices of Good Taste. Men came and went. There was Roger, the kindly ironist, who married her young sister, “Pet,”after long courtship of herself. There was little Crump, who had all the charm of a puppy dog. There was Roy Peck, the publicist with the genial personal touch. She loved Roy, but his environment proved too strong for her love. Finally there was Louis Bayard, cultured, a little dried up, in whose elegance she finally found comfort. Everywhere she sought—but her tortured, inquiring mind never found the “answers in the back of the book.”This novel has been highly received by such critics as Edna Ferber. F. P. A., Heywood Broun, Laurence Stallings.