Time Will Darken It
by .Harper, $3.00.
Irony and nostalgia are subtly blended in this fourth novel by the author of The Folded Leaf, who now chooses for his setting a small Illinois town in 1912. Mr. Maxwell’s hero, Austin King, is an attractive, well-meaning young lawyer, who devotes himself to “the never-ending effort to do what was right.” His lovely wife is a woman who could not “believe in her own beauty or accept love without casting every conceivable doubt upon it.” Crisis and tragedy grow out of a visit from distant relatives: Nora Potter, a childish, moon-struck young girl, falls desperately in love with Austin, and he is too compassionate and too weak to cope firmly with the situation.
Time Will Darken It is not so sharply constructed as The Folded Leaf, but the writing and characterization are of the same high caliber. Mr. Maxwell has rare powers of insight and evocation. His people and their period are wonderfully alive. A distinguished novel.