BOOKENDS

FLOWERING WILDERNESS" is not only the love story of Dinny Cherrell, the "Maid-in-Waiting," and Wilfred Desert, the poet, it is also the old story of individual judgement in conflict with that of society, and clearly illustrates the saying that there are more than three sides to a triangle. There is a fourth side--the inside. The triangular situation about which Mr. Galsworthy has written such a splendid story is one of singular interest. Each of the three people concerned, Dinny--intelligent, lonely and spirited; Wilfred, a poet, proud, sensitive, rebellious of convention; Jack Muskham... to whom good form is the only thing worth living for; is so clearly drawn, so true to life so well pictured in relation to the other two, that while following each separate thread we are never distracted from a view of the whole story. Each character stands out a complete person, yet so connected with the main idea that we realize more than ever how one's environment can be shaken off only superficially. We need, more than we suspect, to belong somewhere, to be surrounded by the only realities worth acknowledging--namely: living by those standards which are the only ones accepted as best by East or West or by Christian or Infidel, which inspire a courageous and beautiful existence, which make us see life as a whole.

"Flowering Wilderness" is more than the sequel to "Maid-in-Waiting" it is a direct descendant of the great "Forsyte Saga," and the best thing Mr. Gals-worthy has witted since then. Like those books, it provokes such an interest in its characters that one cannot bear to put it aside for a moment. No matter what one's personal reactions are to Wilfred's recantation in the desert, to Dinny's falling in love with him despite everyone's disapproval, to Jack Muskham's meddling in their affairs to picture any other denouement. The answer to the riddle apparently is that "the leopard cannot change his spots."