THE WOMAN OF MY LIFE

The search for love is the theme of this French flavored tale in which the Duc de Montfort-Lamoury's adventures with women give Bemelmans a chance to distill the essence of Paris, food and drinks, the countryside and the Gallic attitude. For Armand's introduction to sex, through his father's firm insistence, was a traumatic experience that imprisoned him in solitutde and made him fearful of women. Later, wildly rich in his inheritance, he acceded to his father's three associates' plan to provide him with an affaire through the Chambre d'Amour in his own hotel. Nicole, Mathilde, Consulo and Denise were all possibilities but none of them could be his. Then came Evelyn, American, capable and fabulous in her gestures, and, even if she did get him a three months jail sentence in which he recalls his quest, the complete answer to all his dreamings. Blithe spirits and some bright moments in serio-comic romancing, this is a more thoughtful work than Bemelmans' previous books, less broad in its characterizations. His many readers will assure its reception.