Books: Pattern

THE LLANPEAR PATTERN—Francis B. Biddle—Scribner’s ($2). Carl Llanfear, by heredity incapable of achieving his desired escape from the flypaper pattern of the Philadelphia Llanfears, nevertheless wriggles frantically to achieve his separation from the sticky glue of conventionin which his innumerable and, to a reader, indistinguishable relatives are contentedly bogged. His marriage serves only to anchor him more deeply in the sticky golden marsh; mild affairs with other women are not sufficient to release him. Finally, even this rebellious but unsturdy member of the rich and quiet tribe lies down reluctantly with the others, forced to derive such pleasure as he can from tasting the sticky sugar which has so effectively imprisoned him. It is well that Author Biddle, unlike his character, was able to achieve (inspired perhaps by the less rigidly conventional pattern of the Philadelphia Biddies) such a strong, well-designed and ambitious first novel.