Description

[from inner flap dust jacket] Linda Waldron, eighteen-year-old slavey in a small town hotel, enlists the sympathies of Simon Whitlock, a man of substance. When Whitlock's daughter is killed, just on the eve of entering college, Whitlock turns over her wardrobe and allowance to Linda, to make "the finest possible person" of herself.

She enters the enchanted life of the university campus eager for the gayety she has never had. But out of the life she has left, an old enemy trackers her down, spreading a rumor that the friendship between her and Whitlock is less platonic than it seems.

In the struggle against this enemy, she finds Thomas Moonlight Maugham, poseur and campus playboy, her staunchest champion. But she refuses to give him her complete confidence, and after a bitter quarrel with him, flings herself into an escapade with an outlaw fraternity at an abandoned house that leads to her arrest for murder.

The efforts of Tom and the discovery of the old house's secret not only open a way out of the murder tangle for her, but also strike the final blow at the man who has been slandering her.

Notes

Really appreciated the entry on Virginia Swain on "Lesser-Known Writers", one of Douglas A. Anderson's wonderful, idiosyncratic blogs -- it's where I got the author photo! -- as it's hard to find information on “Interesting Obscure...Literary Folk” like her. She had a bachelor’s degree from Mizzou (journalism, 1920), worked for McClure and The Saturday Evening Post, and seems to have written a handful of novels, the most famous being the bizarre romance/horror fantasy The Hollow Skin (1938). Her husband, Phil Strong, enjoyed more success as a writer: he penned State Fair, filmed (and Oscar-nominated) in 1933 — as a “pre-Code comedy/drama” starring Will Rogers and Janet Gaynor (The 1945 Walter Lang/Rodgers & Hammerstein musical adaptation is the more famous today). The couple used the proceeds from the book to buy back Phil’s grandfather’s Iowa farm.

Linda, Virginia's first novel, has potential. Rags-to-riches, fairy godmother (or, in this case, father), fish out of water, mad scientist, dark goings-on at crumbling abandoned mansions — these are always fun tropes. And there’s some zingy slang: tears are “brineys” and “Take it from a baby who knows her groceries.” (16) It’s also interesting to speculate that “Marbury University” is actually the University of Missouri, which Swain attended, in which case, man she has it in for the Greek system: “The sororities are all a bunch of tripe” (27) Thomas declares — full of shallow, materialistic girls, “chirping” and “bleating”…and the fraternities fare no better.

Unfortunately, this set-up is marred, pretty fatally, by bad writing — Linda’s “delicate nostrils quiver appreciatively” (3), a clock strikes eight with “resounding, tiny blows” — and “Perils of Pauline”-style drama, strenuous and repetitive. The first time Linda Mehitable literally falls into Thomas Moonlight’s (these names!) arms, it’s meet-cute...the other dozen? She does draw interesting older male characters, and I would have much rather read a romance featuring the eccentric Dr. Prine, the wealthy, enigmatic fairy godfather Simon Whitlock, or Indian assistant Dhan Ghopal who, in one pivotal scene, stands “with his hands behind his back, staring out at the night, his attitude “not one of a servant’s awaiting orders.” (90) Who is he -- and why do we never find out? The biggest problem, though, as in so many of these vintage romances, is that the irresistible attraction T. M. M., his pedantic but strangely sympathetic rival Leonard Van Horne, and the villainous captain of the football team, all feel for Linda is totally unmotivated. Besides being pretty and mildly plucky, you never see her do anything to inspire anyone's devotion and, in fact, her downright rudeness and countless and pointless getting herself into fixes, would seem to discourage it. Aah, well.

A few good lines are, near the end, Linda’s telegram to Whitlock and his rejoinder and “The incense of devotion is pleasing to the nostrils of the gods, no matter what kind of person places it on the altar.” (147) Some truth in that.

Flags: Sexual assault, implied and attempted, and outdated language on race

Tags

1920s, American, United States, South, athletic, beautiful/handsome, cheerful, college/university, crumbling manse, dangerous rival, duckling to swan, escape old life, f/m, fairy godparent, fashionable, female, fish out of water, hair, blond(e), loyal, mad scientist, mystery, orphaned, poor, rags to riches, rescue, romance, secret past/my lips are sealed, single, strong, student, third-person, waiter/waitress, working class, young

Flags

insensitive or outdated language (race/ethnicity/disability/sexual orientation), sexual assault