Berry Fleming (1899–1989)

This is a novel about values, and lifestyles, how values influence lifestyles. The author chooses two characters,a novelist, and a musician to play out serious issues of values through their very different careers. The young woman a musician is the heroine. Her lifestyle is art to perfection through her music, at all costs, which makes her a drifter, hitch hiking from place to place. Her attention turns to influencing a novelist she gets a ride from.

There is a lot of light-hearted interaction and spontaneous music playing early in the book. Then the plot closes in on uncomfortable circumstances and proceeds to dangerous situations and murder. All the while the young musician is mentoring the much older novelist on what he should make his writing style priorities. Little by little the novelist realizes his novel which he is delivering to the publisher, is not quite as well done as it should be. From there the characters enter the dangerous part of the plot and the banter of music playing is left behind while the girl guides the novelist through dangerous moments toward the conclusion of the story.

At the end, the novelist finds the girl has left, after giving instructions to the rescuers and leaving a small note of appreciation.

The novelist begins changing his writing style to match his newly acquired priorities but the story ends there.

I was expecting the plot to stay light-hearted. I was expecting the characters to remain friends into the future, instead of the assumed no contact after the story ends. I was disappointed in the ending of the story but other readers might prefer this ending. It was a more serious book than I had intended to tackle at the moment.… (más)