Better to Burn

New York: Godwin, Publishers. Fair. (c.1935). First Edition. Hardcover. NOISBN . (no dust jacket) [general external wear, slight fraying to cloth at top of spine, dampstain (cloth faded) at lower right corner of front cover, front hinge weak, rear hinge cracked but not split; internals unaffected by dampstain]. Uncommon novel showing "the completely demoralizing, thoroughly devastating effect an apparently good woman can have on the lives of those closest to her." Note that "apparently" -- for even though the woman in question was "regarded as the perfect friend, the perfect wife, and the perfect sister," and "it was heresy to speak ill of her," nonetheless she is characterized (at least in the blurb) as "untouched, unmoved and completely indifferent to the frustration, destruction and ruination she brings to more normal men and women." Flaubert ("Madame Bovary"), Thackeray ("Becky Sharp"), Emile Zola ("Nana") and Michael Arlen ("Iris March") (who?) are all evoked. Goddard, the wife of novelist/poet/lawyer/teacher Clement Wood, wrote a half-dozen or so pulpy novels, beginning with "Backyard" in 1926, as well as various nonfiction tomes (occasionally in collaboration with Wood) on such topics such as etiquette, beauty, cooking, party games, etc. .