ELIZABETH APPLETON. by O'Hara, John (1905-1970) - (1963)

New York:: Random House,, (1963). Hardcover first edition -. Near fine in blue cloth with a gilt and dark blue title panel on the spine, in a good dust jacket (previous owner's name, price-clipped, wear to ends of spine of dj,). First printing. A later novel by O'Hara and a bestseller in its time - An "oddly nostalgic tale of lovely Elizabeth Appleton, her husband and her lover. Mother of two and wife of a history teacher (later Dean of a small ivy college in Pennsylvania) Elizabeth lets slip the bonds of matrimony with ease. Although perfectly content to have married slightly below her name and wealth, Elizabeth senses after a decade of marriage that no further excitement or novelty is apt to bloom. She turns to Porter Ditson (somewhat reminding her of "the boys at home") whose anachronistic, unemployed existence is a manifestation of his sole ambition- "to reach seventy-five". Their affair is passionate, satisfying, final. Elizabeth refuses to marry him, however, and after the war and resultant unmoorings, it is ended." (Kirkus) 310 pp.