Books: Gallic, Glum

THE NATURAL MOTHER—Dominique Dunois—Macaulay ($2.50). This book was awarded the 1929 Prix Femina-Vie Heureuse, a cash prize of 5,000 francs offered annually by the two French magazines of that name. That it won the prize merely indicates that the French are not always so gay. Neither a cheerful nor an aphrodisiac story, its flaming jacket suggests that at least it has its lickerish moments. Not so. A stout French peasant lass, Georgette Garou, knows what she wants and goes after it with few words and indomitable dignity. She wants to keep her...