A FAMILY ROMANCE (252 pp.)—Elizabeth Pallet—New Directions ($2.50).
One of the minor literary phenomena of the '40s was the rise of the utterly self-assured, or cold-poached-eye school of female novelists. Such gifted writers as Mary McCarthy (The Oasis) and Jean
Stafford (Boston Adventure) command a cosmopolitan confidence that makes a lot of their male counterparts read like sentimental softies raised on Louisa May Alcott. Since the new school is now threatened with overcrowding, it is a relief to find New York-born Elizabeth Pollet enrolling elsewhere with her first novel. A Family Romance has its...