A 1001 Midnights Review: RUSSELL H. GREENAN – The Secret Life of Algernon Pendleton.

A 1001 MIDNIGHTS Review by Newell Dunlap RUSSELL H. GREENAN – The Secret Life of Algernon Pendleton. Random House, hardcover, 1973. Fawcett Crest, paperback, 1973, Bantam, paperback, 1988. Algernon Pendleton hears voices from unexpected sources — from philodendrons, for example. But his favorite voice source is Eulalia. a Worcester porcelain pitcher, and it is only with Eulalia that he carries on long conversations. In fact, this is pretty much the essence of Algernon’s existence — chatting with his pitcher and leading a quiet, contemplative life in his large old house in Brookline, Massachusetts. Of course he has to earn money occasionally. and this he does by selling, one by one. his late grandfather’s collection of Egyptian artifacts (his grandfather was a famed and eccentric Egyptologist). Still, Algernon is falling farther and farther into debt, and Eulalia fears the day may come when she, too, will be sold. Then one summer, outsiders begin to force their way into Algernon’s…