A Gold, Old-Fashioned Read
The Balance Wheel has all the strengths and all the weaknesses of the page-turner, pot-boiler novel: decent people caught in the cross purposes of turbulent times; far too many instances of "simple belief" and instictive or intuitive understanding; a passionate statement about the waste and futility of war and an ending that is only ironic when fully comprehended. This is not a "feel good" book but one worth rereading.
The Balance Wheel has all the strengths and all the weaknesses of the page-turner, pot-boiler novel: decent people caught in the cross purposes of turbulent times; far too many instances of "simple belief" and instictive or intuitive understanding; a passionate statement about the waste and futility of war and an ending that is only ironic when fully comprehended. This is not a "feel good" book but one worth rereading.
I highly recommend this quickly paced novel. I was "turned on to" Taylor Caldwell not too long ago, and find it so hard to believe that so many of her books are out of print. This one is a good example. It mainly deals with the arms and ammunitions industry (something she wrote about quite often) and how the big wheels behind the industry are the ones truly responsible for manipulating countries into war. In this case she deals with WW I - but it could refer to any war, any time.
