Nearer the Earth

New York: Random House. Very Good+ in Very Good+ dj. (c.1942). First Edition. Hardcover. [light shelfwear, a touch of foxing to cloth at edges of covers and along hinges; jacket bright and attractive, slight wear to base of spine, small closed tear at bottom front hinge]. This "story of a well-bred girl's coming of age" was that years winner of the Avery Hopwood Award, which has been presented at/by the University of Michigan since the early 1930s. The New York Times critic, altough noting that the book was "a far cry from the brash and earthy realism" of the previous year's winner, Maritta Wolff's "Whistle Stop," praised it as "an earnest and sincere chronicle of the life of [its protagonist]" from her early teens to her late twenties, and "a conscientious study of her mental and emotional development through those years -- from riches to genteel shabbiness and on the upgrade again, from loneliness to a poised self-confidence, from an idealistic adolescent love affair to an opportunity for marriage with a wealthy man (a chance she could appraise coolly on its promise of happiness, security and freedom)." There have been many notable winners of the Hopwood Award over the years who've gone on to great writing carees -- a few that come to mind are John Ciardi, Frank O'Hara, Arthur Miller and Marge Piercy -- but Ms. Borst, for whatever reason, seems to have not pursued this path; this was her first and only novel. (She died in Palm Springs, California, in 1984; her obituary indicates that she had been in the real estate business, probably a more sensible career choice.) .