THE ORDEAL OF BRIDGET ELIAErnest C. RossUniversity of Oklahoma ($2.50).
At 10, Mary Lamb became a devout Mohammedan. Even then her nerves were high-strung: she was much upset when her Grandmother Field remained an Unbeliever. But Mary soon found a new interest: from the names on gravestones she began teaching her younger brother, Charles, the future author of the Essays of Elia, his letters.
At 31, Mary Lamb threw a fork at a domestic, missed the girl, but harpooned her feeble-minded father. Then she killed her mother with a carving knife. Such behavior was considered extraordinary even in literary circles that included Cole...