Basil Everman

by Elsie Singmaster

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196 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2024

About the author

Married name Lewars

Reviews

[J. Boo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basil, dead twenty years, has had his writings rediscovered and, on the basis of a handful of published stories, is hailed as a genius. This sits ill with his sister, who fears the taint of scandal. In the small college town where he grew up, his nephew has just graduated, and begins making eyes at a female classmate of perhaps-undetermined parentage.

I would've liked to have given this a higher rating -- Singmaster really does write well, and is entertainingly scathing about the full-of-himself journalist and the similarly full-of-herself faculty wife/social climber, but the subplot about the sister's fears that Bad Things will be revealed about her brother isn't nearly convincing enough. There's also a bit too much of people --particularly the two lovers -- holding information back from one another, for no compelling reason other than to provide a bit of drama.

Available on Gutenberg.