"To arrive at some idea of the culture of a certain street in a Middle Western small town shortly before the First World War, is a … delicate undertaking," runs one meditative chapter ending in ["Time Will Darken It"]. But even more delicate, and more difficult, is the projection in fiction of the breathing people, the living relationships, the very air and feeling of such a time and place. Yet that is precisely what Mr. Maxwell …, in a quiet, accurate way, achieves in "Time Will Darken It."

The book's time, 1912–13, and its scene—an Illinois town typical enough to be recognized under many names but here called Draperville—are both still close enough to allow many readers to check their own remembered impressions. The events all rise out of a simple, natural, even common circumstance….

There is a sense of responsibility in Mr. Maxwell's writing. This is a quiet...