SOURCE: "A Novelist Imagines Grandpa's Boyhood in Bondage," in The Wall Street Journal, July 12, 1994, p. A13.

[Dudar is a writer from New York City. In the following essay, in which she offers a favorable review of Theory of War, Dudar relates the volume's biographical influences, its composition, its critical reception, and its impact on Brady's writing career.]

Now and then, more out of carelessness than conspiracy, a really first-rate book nearly dies of the reviewing community's neglect. Consider Joan Brady's novel Theory of War. It appeared in early 1993 and sank like a stone. Reviews were scanty, sales scarcely visible. Ms. Brady calculates that Knopf sold fewer than 7,000 copies.

Now, it is here in trade paperback and, after a glittering success abroad, may have a brighter future. So far, the book has been acquired for publication in seven other languages, including Korean, and Hollywood seems to be hungering to...