Shadows Waiting; a novel in three parts

New York: The John Day Company. Near Fine. 1927. 2nd printing. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [minor shelfwear only, slight fading to spine cloth, slight browning to paper spine label, mild age-toning to edges of text block]. The first of three published novels by this West Virginia native and Smith College graduate (class of 1922), a somewhat experimental work involving a young writer who retreats from a romantic entanglement into his work, writing a novel within the novel derived from his private dreams and memories. One contemporary critic called it "a fresh and original first novel," and ventured comparisons to "Mrs. Dalloway" and "Dark Laughter": "In telling this story of young love temporarily baffled by heredity, an Oedipus complex, and a literary talent, [the author] employs a foreground as restricted as Virginia Woolf's and something like Sherwood Anderson's method of presenting [her protagonist's] past experience." In addition to two more novels, the author also dabbled (less successfully) in poetry and literary criticism. .