The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
by. New Directions, $2.00.
Mr. Williams’s first excursion into the novel describes the harrowing “Drift” of a middle-aged American woman of great wealth — a celebrated actress just retired from the stage — who becomes infatuated with a young Roman gigolo, as repellent a youth to the reader as he is irresistible to Mrs. Stone. The novel has a high literary finish and Mrs. Stone starts out as an interesting characterization. But her inevitable humiliation and the gigolo’s tantrums and posturing strike a too familiar note. Roman Spring is an accomplished reworking of rather stereotyped ingredients.