<div>Originally published in 1943, <I>The Looking-Glass</I> is William March’s story of a small Alabama town in the early days of the twentieth century. In it, he returns to a nonlinear style that interweaves the stories and voices of numerous characters.<BR> <BR>Manny Nelloha, the junkman’s son, tries to elude his mixed-race heritage by changing his name and personality. Wesley Boutwell is a good-natured but idle war veteran who spends his Saturdays with ?the girls” at Mattress May’s. A haughty and irascible young genius, Rance Palmiller, is driven to a self-destructive rage when a hobo takes pity on him. Young Honey Boutwell belts out a ribald ballad at a children’s party, presaging an illustrious and notorious career. Minnie McInnis McMinn is the warmhearted newspaperwoman who writes novels in a dialect no one’s ever heard.<BR> <BR>Connected by relationships that bind, support, and strangle, the citizens of March’s Reedyville are drawn ineluctably toward a single climactic night. March’s skillful blend of humor and pathos evince his deep insights and empathy into the problems of the mind and heart that are both peculiar to Reedyville yet found in every town and family.<BR></div>