Books: Love Among the Rebels

THE OLIVE FIELD—Ralph Bates—But-ton ($2.50).

In Lean Men Ralph Bates wrote an involved and melodramatic story about the Spanish revolution, painting vivid pictures of Spanish working-class life and weakening his story with long discussions of art and philosophy. More involved than that promising first novel, The Olive Field similarly contains much that most readers will want to skip, but it also contains a narrative forceful enough to carry readers beyond dull spots, presents a general picture of revolutionary Spain that seems to square with modern Spanish history.

The scene of The Olive Field shifts...