Margaret Widdemer

The romance of a house, actually, and of Eve Mannersfield who owned it -- a quiet, lovely house in Connecticut, a house with an orchard. Miss Widdemer writes quietly and with graceful humor of a girl who, returning to her native New England from a life of business success and gayety in New York City, finds that life has new problems, new responsibilities and abiding loyalties. She discovers that it is not only a new manner of living that is important to her; but also the man who, in the atmosphere of town life seemed glamorous, becomes a new influence as she turns to older values. Her near-tragedy is averted. Her life and the lives of those about her fall into a clearer pattern.

A nostalgic book -- and one in which Miss Widdemer creates her most appealing heroine.

(from Grosset & Dunlap dustjacket) It all started at the World's Fair when Anne met the irrepressible Tony France. That Anne was already engaged to the wealthy Andrew van Dusen did not seem to bother Tony at all and, as a matter of fact, Anne probably never would have considered marrying Andrew if it hadn't been for Grand-aunt Isabel. From a frivolous jest Anne thought she had the answer to her desire for independence and she started her Alibi Bureau for people who were in trouble. Grand-aunt Isabel wasn't told -- she didn't believe young ladies should work -- but a great number of people heard of it: people who needed alibis to save their marriages and self-respect. And they turned to Anne. Then Anne discovered that she herself needed an alibi -- and there was no bureau for her to turn to.