Sequels can be dangerous…. [Dangerous] in the sense that an author who writes a sequel runs the risk of not measuring up to the standard established in a former book….

Although Miss West chooses to call ["Except for Me and Thee"] a "companion" rather than a sequel to "The Friendly Persuasion," it still falls under the sequel syndrome. Those among her readers who are still under the spell of the earlier book are likely to feel torn between conflicting emotions: pleasure in the chance to find out more about the Birdwells and a certain mild regret that "Except for Me and Thee" is not the equal of its predecessor….

"Except for Me and Thee" begins earlier and carries the Birdwells into the period of reconstruction after the Civil War….

The whole tone of the book is caught in [sentences which are] gentle, domestic, thankful, satisfying, unsentimental. What if...