Books: Shocked Swede

THE OLD MAN'S COMING — Gösta Gustaf-Janson—Knopf ($2.75).

Bengt Snyder was a tall, serious, good-looking Swedish boy who at 20 decided that it was time for him to take a firm hand in restoring the run-down family estate of Holinge. His widowed mother, Ragnhild, was too gentle and resigned to meet the difficulties of mounting debts and reduced income, the fits of temperament and moodiness in her children. His 30-year-old sister, Marianne, had made a complete wreck of her life. She had studied to be a singer, deliberately botched her first concert to spite...