Flat Folk

MACKEREL SKY-- Helen Ashton--Doubleday, Doran ($2.50).

Domesticity is often thought to be drab, is capable of dreary interpretations. In Dr. Serocold (TIME, July 14), Helen Ashton showed how fetching a story she could make of a country doctor's 24 hours; in Mackerel Sky she tackles an even grimmer subject and makes it cheerfully readable.

Gilbert was 32 and wrote novels which critics praised and readers failed to buy. Elizabeth was 24 and worked long hours in a woman's wear shop. They lived in an ugly and inconvenient flat in London, got on each other's nerves almost daily. Elizabeth's family disapproved of Gilbert from the beginning and tried to make him take his old job teaching at their boys' school. They thought it was a shame Elizabeth had to work, but admired her success, despised his failure. Then one of his novels somehow caught on. Thai nearly finished the occasionally-happy married life of Gilbert & Elizabeth. Success brought female admirers, one of whom went to Gilbert's head, left nothing much there, so far as Elizabeth could see.

She started to have a baby which she did not want, lost her job, came down with influenza, had a bang-up row with Gilbert and left him forever. A week later they were together again and the sky had changed from mackerel to fair.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.