Laura Hobson likes to throw light into dark places. In her celebrated novel, "Gentleman's Agreement," she explored the social disease of anti-Semitism. In ["The Other Father"] she explores the personal disease of excessive and misdirected love.

At the center of a story rich in psychological analysis stands Andrew Dynes, to all outward appearances an exemplary, middle-class family man….

However, the soul of Andrew Dynes is afflicted with the "pale disease of emptying time." He is bored by his wife, and he despises his work. By a freak of circumstance he has fallen in love with a young girl….

[One night he learns] that his daughter Peg is engaged in an illicit love affair with a married man.

Miss Hobson handles the complex counterpoint of this situation with dramatic skill and emotional conviction. Peg's lover is no fickle bee. He has money, stability, determination; however, it is not only...