Books: The Reynolds Girls

A FAMILY ROMANCE (252 pp.)—Elizabeth Pallet—New Directions ($2.50).

One of the minor literary phenomena of the '40s was the rise of the utterly self-assured, or cold-poached-eye school of female novelists. Such gifted writers as Mary McCarthy (The Oasis) and Jean

Stafford (Boston Adventure) command a cosmopolitan confidence that makes a lot of their male counterparts read like sentimental softies raised on Louisa May Alcott. Since the new school is now threatened with overcrowding, it is a relief to find New York-born Elizabeth Pollet enrolling elsewhere with her first novel. A Family Romance has its...

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