Publishers Weekly
Last Updated on June 7, 2022, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 104
[In The Country of the Heart] Hadley is a famous poet, aged 40, angry and dying. Steven is in college, an aspiring poet full of pat answers and puppy-like devotion to his "idol," Hadley, who has miraculously rented a house in his hometown. Predictably, she repulses his advances, mocks him mercilessly but softens, at first, grudgingly. As their relationship grows, Hadley and Steven … become lovers—finally, briefly. The author's insights are admirably original and comprehensive. A story that could have been insufferably maudlin is rescued deftly and elevated—to excellence.
A review of "The Country of the Heart," in Publishers Weekly, Vol. 208. No. 2, July 14, 1975, p. 60.
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