ALL THE WAY TO WITS' END

by Sheila Greenwald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1979

So that Mr. Brattles can get a job, the family moves from their 26-room family home at Cove's Landing to a six-room split level on Pitney Place, where the roof leaks and the kids at school mock Drucilla for her old-fashioned hand-medown dresses and her rabbit teeth. (""The Bundage mouth,"" corrects Mrs. Bratties proudly.) But Drucilla is inspired by the garage sales of an antique-dealer neighbor, and soon Mrs. Brattles, who has stiffly resisted parting with her treasured heirlooms, does a total flip and starts selling off her antiques for a new roof, kids' clothes, wall-to-wall carpeting (in exchange for the Oriental rugs), and braces for Drucilla and herself. Again, it's a conspiring Drucilla who leads the way--back to sanity this time, while the old family portraits and a reasonable houseful of heirlooms remain. The story yields no startling developments or startling insights; but despite an occasional crude stroke (""Sometimes I wish we could move to a bigger, fancier house,"" confides a neighbor upon first meeting Mrs. Brattles), Greenwald handles the family's groping toward priorities with a generally light and sympathetic touch.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atlantic/Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION