Books: This Is the Life

DOWN IN THE VALLEY—H. W. Freeman—Holt ($2.50).

Everard Mulliver has inherited a very respectable grocery business in Bury St. Edmunds (can you ask what country?). But he has been through the War, has no family left, and craves the quiet contemplation of the countryside. He buys a cottage in a nearby village, intending to use it as a week-end retreat; soon he is spending most of his time there. The life suits him, he is accepted by the villagers, becomes a familiar figure at the pub, goes into partnership with Farmer Kindred. His...