THE YEARS BETWEEN

This is a success in London- but it creaks as one reads it. It says so little that is new- and that, in a way that is not new. It seems like a rapidly dated period piece, spanning 1942-1945 in the life of Diana, whose husband had gone down over the Mediterranean, Richard, who had proved more than a more neighbor, Robin, who grows up very little between 10 and 15, and Michael- the missing husband- who turns up, a hero who has led the underground resistance in the Mediterranean for three years, just as Diana and Richard are planning marriage. Well, she gives up Richard- and accepts again the role of deserted wife as Michael is again assigned to foreign service.