Best Sellers 1950-03-01: Vol 9 Iss 23

r SELLERs

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BEST SELLERS.

The Semi-Monthly Book Review

Published by the University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania

, Editor
John A. Jaekkn, S.J.

Associate Editors

One N. Wolf, Ph.D.
ugeric P. /Willging

(Catholic University)

Business Manager
Mildred Norton
(Assistant Librarian)

BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB—MARCH SELECTION

The Wall

Hersey, John

Knopf. Feb. 27, 1950. 632p. $4.00.

There is perhaps a certain amount of editorial hyper-
bole in Alfred Knopf’s statement that this latest work
by the author of A Bell for Adano and Hiroshima “‘is
one of the truly great novels of our generation’, but
there is no doubt that it is John Hersey’s most im-
portant work thus far. It is also the first presentation
we have had of one aspect of World War I[—the
attempt by the Germans to completely exterminate the
Jewish population of Poland, especially that part of it
centering in Warsaw. The Wall tells how that attempt
failed—how human beings have that about them which
resists annihilation, and how, individually and collec-
tively, the Jews of Warsaw survived.

To tell the story of the Warsaw ghetto between 1939
and 1943, Hersey has resorted to the familiar literary
device of the rediscovery of lost records. The records,
in this case, are those contained in the so-called “Levin-
son archive”, a compilation of all sorts of materials,
diaristic, conversation records, official records, personal
reflections, and so on—all put together by Noach
Levinson, one of Warsaw’s Jews. From the four mil-
lion or so words of the archive in its orginal form,
enough has been extracted to make up this volume of
more than 600 pages, and to give a thorough picture of
life in the ghetto during the four years during which
the Germans carried on their extermination campaign.

Scores of figures pass through these pages—Levinson
knew everyone in the ghetto, was known to all, and
had the confidence of all. In the reactions of each to
the four years’ terror, not only physically, but mentally,
Levinson was passionately interested, and that all
should be got down on paper, to be preserved for the
world to see how the Jews had lived through the
terror, was his object. He is, then, the major char-
acter of the book, in the sense of being a catalyst, as
well as a recorder, of the varied characters in the
ghetto; and we know more of him, by the time the book
ends, than of the characters whose lives and hearts he
has opened before us.

The unit of survival during the worst days of the terror
was the “family”, but not all families were connected
by blood ties. At first a blood-related family occupied
one flat, or one room, but as the lines of the ghetto
were drawn tighter and tighter, “family” lines broaa-
ened, to include in each unit all friends of the family,

}

and even homeless and friendless souls generally. With
iree family groups, the story is chiefly concerned—
he Apts, the Mazurs, and the Bersons, but each family
as its own group of hangers-on and dependents. The
canvas becomes, moment by moment, more crowded
with characters, but it becomes easier, moment by mo-
ment also, to single out the important souls—Rachel
Apt, homely, brilliant, and brave, the “Little Mother”
of her large group; Dolek Berson a dreamy, impractical
man, whose strength grows as the terror becomes
greater; Halinka Apt and Rutka Mazur, beautiful girls
both, but antithetical in their reactions to suffering,
and with opposed views of duty; the deeply religious
rabbis Mazur, Goldflamm, Mandeltort; Benlevi, Zilber-
zweig and Rappaport, leaders of opposing Jewish politi-
‘al factions, carrying on political activity in the face of
annihilation. Dozens of others there are, too, some
crossing the pages for but a moment, but all coming
within the ken of the eager Levinson, and all assigned
their places in the great drama of death.

The diabolical methods of the Germans in their cam-
paign to kill off hundreds of thousands of Jews, we all
know quite well by now, from multitudes of White
Papers, captured films, picture collections, and the testi-
mony of survivors and witnesses; graphic though Her-
sey’s accounts are of such things, we have heard them
before, and perhaps they have lost force in the many
tellings—but this does not prevent a passionate interest
in the lives of these most real men and women as they
move through the Levinson Archive. Not only do
Hersey’s [or Levinson’s, for we often forget, I think,
that this is a fictional device] people stand before us in
the round, but we get a feeling of the validity of Her-
sey’s picture of the very quality that is Jewishness—

CONTENTS

Book and Classification
The Wall (Ila)
Innocents at Home (I)
World and Paradise (IV)
The Sea Eagles (IIb)
Louis Pasteur, Free Lance of Science (1)

Author
Hersey, John
Considine, Bob
Maass, Edgar
Jennings, John
Dubos, Rene
White, Nelia
McDermott, Thomas
McKenney, Ruth
Dark, Eleanor
Annixter, Paul
Lowell, Juliet
Hall, Geoffrey

The Pink House (IV)
Certainly, I’m a Catholic (1)
Love Story (IIb)

Storm of Time (1)
Swiftwater (1)

Dear Hollywood (IIb)

The End Is Known (Ila)

186

the deep spirituality of the 1

fer pati — and to re bel

suffering is worst; and—a

i em with the Irish il
s Tri sh Rose could do—

allies within the Jewish

1:
ausaster.

It is, indeed, this love of

the pages of the Archive rather
con ae of intra-ghetto polit
too much for the average reader
and shibboleths hard to ke
archival en

large number, complicate, |
the reader; though t
reality to the device.

tries, and cross- and

bie vast amount of

‘mbedded in the pages wil
attractive to those of Jewis
oe will get from The

ion of the ability of the spirit
i, and of the permanence
sense of humor, personal brav
the race. By some reviewers
undoubtedly, be compared to W«
I think, the great universality of
is an important piece of war writ
sound throughout.

D. Bernard Theall,
Department of Libra

Catholic l Inia ersit
Washington 17,

*

Considine, Bob
Dutton. Feb. 28, 1950. 208;
Mr. Considine is nationally
columnist and reporter-at-large;
lraws an income comfortable enou;
is wife, and three vigorous
{partment in the upper-brac!
lis woes and worries as fath
more or less complicated by
are others’ of lower income
count of his familial tribulations,
suffer from the intrusion of budget:
the casual mention of the multiplicity
sters own and neglect may ca

envy in fond parents among his reader

dine takes his income for granted;; he
telling about his boys.

Of an occasional Sunday,
reported doings of the C
been amplified, recast, and a
bookful of comment on th
parenthood, and on the n

from sucking infant to sixth-gr

is a full quota of laughs

incidents and by a ski

rences. Father is in

contradiction, but of comp!

D-Ray Distinegrator Gun;

of the child’s first days in kine ,
first lessons in civilization by cut Zone.

Hersey — Considine — Maass

and strains as he strives encase uncooperative
the multiple paraphernalia of snow.
important-for-future-generation re.

television on toddlers; on experi-

Roy Rogers and suchlike two

] 1 1

eer
abel, “Hi-yo-yo on a Long

parents, will relish Inno.

te their Own

> |
IS 00d

World and Paradise
1950. 405p. $3.50.
ank profanity and its noxious slurs
members, World and Paradis.
in the manner of the elongated,
yrical ra abble rouser, but falls miserably
objectively examining its professed subject,
gg ra a Var. Mixing the intrigues of flirtat
hs carnage Py the battlefield, and the sensitive fuse
religious disquietude requires an alchemist far above
author Maass’ faculties to succeed. He is, in adc lition,
notoriously wont to ride roughshod over whatever
patent obstacles happen to aed in the
ry’s getting on.

]

idliners in the cast of bloodless make-believe char-

ible minx wad ¢ camp follower named

ating Catholic nobleman, Count Karl

arrach; the inevitable sgoorgel and Richelieu

Chevalier de Poiron; and an out of order

1in monk, Father Patricius, ie carries the

relief. All of them, it might a noted, are

bysmal thick-headedness and monotonous

—as is also the case of Prince

pictured here as a mystic and adventurer

etually wrenched between the mundane wisdom
“xpediency and the dictates of conscience.

Through the pages the swirl of warfare pounds devas

ingly past the capital doors of middle Europe, with

Rosanna and Karl always meeting opportunely in the

heat of . But religious and patric ‘tic factions divide

them, and Rosanna is swept willy-nilly into the arms

f the conniving Chevalier.

ey = aes ¢
Iowever, Mr. Maass seems to regret th is first decision,

ind with the presumed slaughter of Poiron at Eger,
iffords Karl a second chance with the lady. He

BEST SELLERS issued by the Library, University

of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Subscription price, $2.50; Single Copies, 15 Cents;
Canadian and Foreign, $3.00. Entered as second
class matter, April 16, 1943, at the post office at
Scranton, Pennsylvania, under the act of March 3,
1879. Copyright, 1950, by the University of Scran-
ton. Indexed in the Catholic Periodical Index.

Symbols of Classification: I. Suitable for General
Reading. II. Adults Only, because of: A. Advanced
Content and Style; B. Immoral Language or Incidents.
III. Permissible for Discriminating Adults. IV. Not
Recommended to Any Class of Reader.

Best SELLER;

MaRCH

claims |
Christi<
Jenstein
bountii
results
and, ul
mously
Friar T
solutiol
who d
divorce
forthwi
commu

A luml

Jennin
Double«
When
indentt
for pas
indent
pursuit
Joshua
her tra
only aj
numer

himsel
Thoug
chance
wealth
Barney
on the
and sl
Kenny
actual]
inactiv

ST SELLER:

‘ooperative
of snow.
ration re.
on experi
hlike two.
on a Lone

lish Inno.
their OWn

it 1
it 1s f00d

Paradise

ious | slurs
| Para dise
elongated
miserably
bject, the
flirtatior
ve fuse of
far above
adc litic yn,

\ whatever

iy of the

eve char-
er named
unt Karl
Richelieu
of order
rries the
ted, are
notonous
f Prince
lventurer
wisdom

Is devas
pe, with
y in the
is divid
he arms

decision,
at Eger,
He pro-

versity
lvania

Dents;
econd
ice at
ch 3,

Ms
scran-

-neral
anced
dents.

Not

MarcH 1, 1950

vhere, in a qualm of

claims his passion at Nuremberg,

Christian repentance following the defeat of the Wal-
1

lensteiners, Rosanna has established herself as madame
bountiful to the city’s refugees. Momentary confusion
results leon the Chevalier tur ‘ry much ali
and, under the impression iI id, |

m<¢ a! W edded to Karl’s sis

Friar Father Patricius t

sa by declaring, “May a

who disturbs their happiness!
divorce and the marriage before
forthwith blesses th
communion with botl

uck smile,

A pommering vehic
investigati n of
Worl | and 'P

on any count.

lowa

The Sea Eagles

Jennings, John
I $3.00.

Doubleday. Feb. 299p.

16, 1950.
oc ;
lad inadvertently

co was signing a note

When a young Sassenach-hating
indentured himself in belief that

for passage to America, an American sailor bought his
indenture with money raised by an Irish trollop in the
pursuit of her profession. Of the three—Kenny Boyle,
Joshua Barney and Moira—the third separated to ply
her trade throughout the British Navy and and
only appears for a brief instant to aid in one of Joshua’s
numerous escapes. Her main excuse, not

ented by the author but accepted by him as wel
that Kenny is too good to be hampere
stripe. Arrived America Kenny
the latter’s home at Baltimore wher
give Kenny his freedom. Kenny ref
himself to fall in love with Joshua’s si

Though Kenny
chance to buy
wealth that should lead to re
Barney in the fledgling American Navy
on the book is a story rages and chases,
and skirmishes, captures an

Kenny move through all naval
actually spend almost as much
inactive as they do on active duty.

Army

yearned for the pri

his freedom as well as
d position,

and from then
battle
escapes.

scenes of the

time, as prisoners,
Thougl

h each loves

HEADLINERS

Book and Classification Author and Review

The Parasite S (IV)
5 s Cavalier (I)
>» Egyptian (IIb)

sae Hill (1)

du Maurier Jan.
Shellabarger Jan.
Waltari Sept.
Goudge Jan.
Mary (IV) Asch Nov.
A Rage to Live ong O’Hara Aug.
The Horse’s Mouth (IIb) Cary Feb.
One on the House (IIb ) Lasswell Feb.
The Way West (Ila) Guthrie Oct.
Wom an of Rome (III) Moravia

This | Remember (Ila) Roosevelt

The Mature Mind (IIL) Overstreet

My Three Years in Moscow (Ila) Smith

The Peabody Sisters of Salem (1) Tharp
fodern Arms and Free Men (Ila) Bush

The Wooden Horse (Ila) Williams

~
Wana Ue

—~ he
eee | ee

Jennings — Dubos 187

the other, enny and Barbary strike sparks and it takes
Kenny’s mutilation and his subsequent recovery, during
and after the fight of the Bonhomme Richard and the
ing them together. But victory on the sea

ry on land and the two couples faced

he brave young new republic

romance of colonial

poorly and awkwardly

tory and of matters naval

also scanty and insufficient.

iters especially are all too briefly described
ng submitted to plot. Moira is an ob-
-haracter and a bit too much space is de-
liz sex with a bit too

In general the book

below the level

(
mmercialization of
of her noble: ess.
“=? a

adults but is definitely

ree |

eariler WOrks.

* + *

Dubos, Rene J.
Louis Pasteur, Free Lance of Science
Feb. 2, 1950. 418p. $5.00.
. fellow Frenchman and a fellow scientist, Dr.
h 1as Written a book for the so-called “average”
one of the truly great men of the ages. Seldom does
become unduly technical, although it is
fortunate that the author did not include a bit more
scientific terms, even though such
have been relegated to footnotes. In
rteen chapters he makes understandable the con-
ibutions made by Pasteur to such problems as the pos-
of spontaneous generation, the germ theory of
>, mechanisms of contagion and disease, and im-
munity and vaccination. Although a chemist and not
Pasteur devoted much of his life to the
-radicati of disease and the lessening of human
iffering. Frequently he had to fight bitterly with
dical practitioners, who gave up very slowly many
yns then currently held.

ne musconceptic

I — Brown.
Dubos

rea d er

‘mation about

rial might

a poysician,

enerally known that Pasteur did much to
last the pc pul rly held conception that spontaneous
possible, it is interesting to note that
career, he evidently believed such
development possible. He apparently entertained the
belief that life could come from non-life during the
years he spent teaching at Strasbourg and at Lille, but
by the time he returned to Paris in 1857 he was evi-
dently prepared to prove that spontaneous generation
was scientifically impossible. One is impressed at the
practical aspects of his work, when we follow his work
for the period 1865-1869 when he tried to lessen the
effects of the silkworm epidemic in southern France.
One of his letters written in 1865, upon the death of
his father, is weighted with the solidity of the Catholic
principles which guided his life. This attitude sus-
tained him during his illness in 1868 when his left arm
and leg were partly paralyzed. After his illness, he
seemed ti come even more productive. During the
| 1873-1888, he, more than any other scientist,
proved the germ theory of disease and developed the

chniques of immunization (pp. 48-49); in 1881 he
vaceinated and saved sheep from dying from anthrax;
in 1885 he vaccinated two boys and probably saved
them from contracting rabies. Meanwhile, he kept in

Since ns is g
1
i

generation was
early in hi
]

s research

]
>» be

1OC

188

touch with List ter in England and with Koch in Ger-
many, each of whom was also advancing the frontier
of medical and scientific knowledge. It was very diffi-
cols to convince physicians that bacteria cause disease.
Even though the phy » admit, after
using the microscope, that bacteria were present in the
blood and tissues of *rsons, these same doc-
tors maintained that the bacteria were a result and not
a cause of disease. Even the redoubtable Fl rence
Nightingale ridiculed the idea that there were specific

bluntly: “There are no specific
itions” (p. 249 ).

pt

sicians were forced t

diseased pe

1;

diseases. She said

dise ases; there are specific disease Col
She maintained that bad livi ng conditions could
duce any disease; in effect she argued that no diseases
could occur in an area which was sanitary. Typhoid
fever and typhus were to her simply two phases of
the same illness; neither could appear in clean, well
ventilated quarters. It was against such ignorance that
Pasteur had to carry on an uphill fight. When he
accused the doctors who were

ending women in
maternity of hospitals of carrying puerperal fever by
their unclean hands from one patient tl
doctors were highly insulted,

to another, the
but eventually Pasteur
proved to them that he was ; right (po; Z6Z).

It is indeed fitting that such a book should appear at
this time. The leading scientists of the world now seem
unfortunately to be committed, by actions of their re-
spective governments, to the destruction of civilization
as we know it. It is at least comforting to know that a
great scientist who lived from 1822 to 1895 was com-
mitted to the practice of saving life rather than de-
stroying it, and to the religious belief that God wanted
men to live together in peace rather than to the secular
commandment of today that we must destroy ourselves,
if necessary, in order to kill anyone who disagrees with
us. The science of today is as destructive as that of
Pasteur’s day was constructive. Which do you prefer?
Paul Kiniery, Ph.D.,
Loyola Unia ersity,
Chicago, Illinois

= * *

White, Nelia G. The Pink House

Viking. 3111p. $3.00.

The Pink House is an odd book.
air of unreality about the scenes, the characters, and
the intertwined plots. The title rather suggests that
there is a house with a personality strong enough to
influence its inhabitants; the title is misleading and
does not fulfill its promise. The story, or rather the
stories, are trivial and ill defined: The characters do
not act, they drift.

The novel is concerned with John Dickinson and his
wife Rose, their four children, John’s sister, Poll, and a
crippled niece, Norah Holme. This last is the narrator,
part spectator and part participant in the tale. In the
course of the story, the crippled niece is received into
the Pink House and is resented and mistreated by her
Aunt Rose and the four children. Her only friend is
Poll who becomes her tutor and confidant. Rose Dick-
inson is the evil influence in the story but the latent
malice in her seems never to crystallize. She despises
her husband, resents her children, indulges in ‘mild
flirtations, rather serious thievery, and finally, on a
presumably solitary tour through Europe, divorces her

There is a curious

White — McDermott — McKenney

Best SELLER;
husband and marries a titled Britisher. The authores
would have it that the malignancy of this woman
warps and seriously impairs the spiritual and moral
outlook of the family. pees ewer for the
novel, this impression does not come through the gen.
eral confusion. The dominating ann Poll, is perhaps
the only chars that Nelia White de

pletely. She is interesting, believable, and thoroughly
enjoyable.

entire

wiliade velops com.

It is regettable t! iat in order to arrive at a solution or
untangling of the threads of the story, the authoress
has to depend on two divorces a1 iree Marriages,
More than thi . divorce is taken as the natural way of
settling marital difficulties. This last turn transforms
he boo k from one that is neutral, or at best mildly

one that cannot be recommended.

William Noé Field,

ae Hall College,

South Orange, N. J.

* * *

t
t

interesting, into

Certainly, I’m a Catholic
154p. $2.50.
This book is a statement of
ton attorney, whose avocation writing, and who al-
ready has to his credit a biography of Pius XII. His
standpoint is that of a busy professional man, educated
nearly entirely in Catholic schools, now carving out a
successful career in the world. He understands wel
certain dr: awbé acks to his religion in the world of affairs,
where he observes that Masons or Episcopalians seem
to fare best. It is partly in answer to these and other
persons of different views, and pat rtly to satisfy his own
questioning mind that Mr. McDermott has set dow:
this brief and practical summary of his reasons for stay-
ing Catholic despite its social and economic disad-
vantages.
Such a book is timely and objectiv e, touching on every-
day matters such as patriotism, sex and social relations,
science, the Index, idecslinn. and democracy. It is
easy to read and accurate, being the product of a legal
mind. It is not a systematic treatise, makes no pretense
to profundity or scholarship (there are very few notes
or references), and touches but lightly on the interior
aspect of religion. Its appeal is directly to the ordinary
busy layman who hasn’t had the time or training to
give much consideration to the difficulties of his re
ligion. Among non-Catholics the book should do good
work, for it is sympathetic and straight-forward. There
is, however, nothing of special interest for the student,
scholar, or priest, who will know most of what is in it.
Nevertheless, since the battle of books is on, what with
Mr. Blanchard and his ilk, this little work ought to be
a useful piece of artillery in parishes and among lay
apostles since it gives timely answers to the many ques
tions that will be thrown up by inquirers, friendly and
otherwise.

McDermott, Thomas
Bruce. Feb. 15, 1950.

faith by a young Washing.

Dom Bruno McAndrew,
st. Anselm’s Priory,
Washington 17, D. C.
~* a +
McKenney, Ruth
Harcourt, Brace. Feb. 10, 1950. 303p.

Another autobiographical work from
Columbus, Ohio, girl, who had New

Love Story
$3.00.
the pen of the
Yorker readers

—120, wil
later ré
some

ness’,

toe be 1
Kenne
an ear
life are
are Ci\
The f
capto r
misera
supren
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style t
a few

of a ©

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fun it
thinks
princi}
have <
grace
ge

Dark
Whitt
This

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nine
more
ancil

© authores
iS Woman
and moral
‘ly for the
h the gen.
is perhaps
‘LOPS Com.
thoroughly

olution or
authoress
Marriages,
ral way of
transforms
est mildly
nded.
ield,
lege,

N. J.

Catholic
Washing-

| who al-
XII. His
educated
ing out a
inds well
of affairs,
ans seem
nd other
his own
et down
for stay-
ic disad-

N every-
‘elations,
y. It is
f a legal
pretense
Ww notes
interior
ordinary
ining to
his re-
do good

There
student,
is in it.
1at with
1t to be
ong lay
1y ques-
dly and

rew,

2 Story

of the
readers

ST SELLER

MarcH 1, 1950

(and subsequently playgoers) laughing a decade or so
ago, with her stories about her sister Eileen; and whose
la violent grandfather
less fascinating. The present vo ‘lume has
1 Ruth’s brief and violent courtship by a young
Masses, and with the subsequent
life, dozen

ater reminiscences of a seemed
somewhat
to do wit

editor of the Neu
vicissitudes of married

over a period of a

years Or SO.
It has always seemed rather sad that a writer of Miss
— ey’s talents should have spent so large a part

of her re al » much ink, in the yf those parts

cause

of the labor movement which are, to say the best of
them, very, very, very far to the left, and that she and
her husband sho a i have spent so large a part of their

1 life in fanat

then, a

married ical 1 devotion to bad causes. Leftist
labor sales up, rather goodly share of these
reminiscences, and there is throughout a too shrill in-
sistence on the beauty of being emancipated socially
and free from most "of convention’s trammels. At
their wedding, both were dete rmined not to have any
of “this ‘Dearly Beloved, to Have and to Hold’ busi-

ness”, and the account of the wedding, “while meant
te be funny, is a rather good commentary on the Mc-
Kenney attitude toward religion. (Mike had just shed

an earlier wife, whose turnings-up in their subsequent
life are described in great detail—but then, such things
are ceiees. )
The fac though, that Ruth
captor of ie moment which is,
miserable, but is afterward, and as
supremely funny. There is an
suburban barbecue in the genuine “My-Sister-Eileen”
style that is worth all the rest of the book. There are
a few other such gems, but mainly this is an account
of a desperately unconve ntional married life, with a
insistence throughout on how much

screamingly shrill i

fun it has all been, and with what Ruth McKenney
thinks of, I am sure, as a brave declaration of conjugal
principles at the end, to the effect that “if Mike and I
have a life rich and varied, we must endure with what
grace we can the pain we have suffered between our
goodly joys. We are too passionate and too blunder-
ing, to inhabit any safe and comfortable plateaus”.
It all depends on what one calls “richness” in married
life—or in any life.

The book is quite harmless for adult reading, and much
in it will amuse, but it is a really rather frightening
exhibition of paganism among the middle classes.

D. Bernard Theall,
Department of Library Science,
Catholic University of America,

W ‘ashineton 7. D. is

hts

* * *

McKenney is a fine
as it passes, supremely
McKenn 1ey- -related,
account here of a

Dark, Eleanor

Whittlesey House.

Storm of Time

Jan. 30, 1950. $3.50.

This is, probably, the biggest bargain in print-per-penny

590p.

that has been published in many moons. The six-
hundred-less-ten pages are closely printed in what
seems a smaller-than-usual type with less-than-cus-

tomary margin, and would easily make three ordinary-
size novels. It also covers, rather thoroughly, some
nine years of the early history of Australia, involving
more characters and plots, sub-plots, peripheral and
ancillary stories than a reviewer can count or recount

Dark — Annixter

189

briefly. Yet it all adds up to a continually interesting
sometimes exciting historical novel that is much more
history than novel, for all that many of its people are
fictitious, valid creations of the author’s invention. The
scope of the work is big, and this reviewer agrees, with-
out cavil, to the Introductory estimate historian Allan
Nevins gives to the completed work. Mr. Nevins has
also neatly summarized the content of

follows:

“Tt is a story full of violence, cruelty, greed, and poli-
tical intrigue, lighted by episodes of heroism,
sacrifice, and devotion to public aims. The author

; ’
the book as

self-

writes with convincing vividness of convicts of high
lineage and low, and their brutal maltreatment; of the
efforts of scheming men to monopolize land, reduce

independent settlers to serfdom, and exterminate the
natives; of revolts savagely led and still more savagely
quelled; and, most important of all, of the grim, endless

and the civil gov-
dominate

feud between the military garrison
ernors. Two men of exceptional
]

Stature

much of the tale: the shrewd, cold, insatiably ambi-
tious Captain Macarthur, and his opponent, one driving
Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, duelists whose battle

shakes the young colony.
the weak outer settlements,
ness, the tenuous links with
with sure economy of stroke.”
However, I found myself far more interested in the
ultimate fate of the or convict Finn, and the red-
haired runaway bush-boy, Jonny, who tried to establish
a safe refuge for other runaway penal victims, remote
from the expanding colony; am he than in the higher-
level historical struggle of Governor Bligh and “Jack
Bodice” Macarthur. The latter of these two con-
testants appears through the first and last thirds of the
book, but oddly never comes to life as a : deee dimen-
sional person. Possibly this is because he is one of the
“real” historical figures. Whereas Stephen Mannion,
the fictional, insufferably arrogant, independent planter
looms dark over half the pages with a menace that is
tangible; and his young wife, Conor, is also exception-
ally well-drawn, credible and immensely sympathetic.
The struggles of Bligh’s predecessor, Governor King,
are equally important with Bligh’s although they end
less tragically, yet more pathetically.
It is something of a shock to notice that Miss Dark has
authored five previous novels, (among them The Time-
less Land, which was a Book-of-the-Month selection
when published here), because Storm of Time is al-
most, if I may be pardoned the banality, a down-under
Gone With the Wind. Throughout the entire book,
Miss Dark’s love of her native Australia glows like a
proud lantern; and her sympathies are wide and just.
There is no reason why Storm of Time need be neg-
lected by any reader who likes action, plenty of it, and a
lot of reading for the price of purchases.

R. F. Grady, S.J., Ph.D.,

University of Scranton

FAMILY READING CLUB—FEBRUARY
SELECTION

The infant city of Sydi ney,
il

the immense silent wilder-

England,

are described

Annixter, Paul Swiftwater

A. A- Wyn. Jan. 18, 1950.

Adventure in the wilds of the Maine wi oods provides
source material for this story of a trapper’s life, of his

256p. $2.50.

190 Lowell — Hall

dependency on the beneficence of nature to provide a
simple livelihood for his family. :
The blood of the MicMacs flowed in his veins and
Cam Calloway knew the bush and the habits of its
four-footed residents with a knowledge unique in the
wwiftwater region. It seemed as if Bucky possessed the
ht as he joined his father in setting the

same rare insight
winter trap lines for the first time.

A weakness for a nip too much at times, his obvious
inability to acquire material wealth, and the simplicity
of his ways as he sought the forest in preference to
their company had won for Cam the antagoriism of the
Swiftwaterites. But the Calloways were reasonably
happy in their log cabin, as happy as people who are
sometimes hungry for food or friends can expect to be.
Bucky nursed a deep admiration for his father; he
shared Cam’s love for the forest creatures and promised
to be as canny a woodsman. Like Cam, he experienced
an almost spiritual affinity to the wild geese as they
planed over the Maine woods twice yearly in their
migratory journeys. The two deplored the loss of life
as huntsmen leveled the valiant birds in flight, and
the main theme of the novel centres on their efforts
to provide a sanctuary for them.

Bucky’s rapid development from boyhood to man’s
estate occurs when Cam, in the act of setting his traps,
fractures a leg thus necessitating a lengthy convales-
cence. Going over the trap line alone, the boy con-
quers fear as he stalks a wolverine that has been pil-
laging the catch to its winter lair where, in a tense
battle, he kills the beast. Suspense ranks high through-
out the story and reaches a maximum when old Fire
Eyes, a lynx, is done to death by Keg, the Calloways’
amusing pet bear.
Conflict creeps in as the inevitable city promoter,
Fraser, attempts to take advantage of the father and
son in their honest efforts to build up the bird sanc-
tuary. It is a dramatic moment when the gander, en
route north, settles his flock on the lake near the
trapper’s cornfield, but a bitter one when Fraser’s
friends fire at the unsuspecting birds for the sheer de-
light of killing. Cam’s heroic effort to scatter the
flock, an easy prey on the water, costs him his life as a
gun volley cuts him down. By some instinct, the geese
persist in remaining and the sanctuary is finally assured
proper support with Bucky installed to carry on Cam’s
work.
Characterization is well established here with the stress
on man’s nobler traits. Ma Calloway is entirely human
in her longing for a fur cape; Cam and Bucky, in their
conspiracy to provide it, are equally engaging. Viney,
Bucky’s sister, is almost too young to figure dramatically
in the tale but Bridie Mellott his one-time schoolmate
contributes to the plot in a mildly romantic angle.
Some criticism might be directed at the time element.
One has almost decided that Cam lived and died dur-
ing the heyday of the Hudson’s Bay Company when
direct allusion to modern methods of travel and stream-
lined living brings one up to date. This is a simple,
unobjectionable story fit for all to read and boys espe-
cially should find it to their taste.

Rosemary McCormick,

Toronto, Canada

BesT SELLER;

Dear Hollywood
96p. $1.00.

Lowell, Juliet

Duell, Sloan & Pearce. Jan. 27, 1950.
Juliet Lowell has coined a pretty penny out of othe
peoples’ not-so-literary and unintentionally humoroy;
epistolary efforts. Where collections have
been drawn from letters to government agencies and t
congressmen the present series have been coll
from Hollywood but, in spite of Hollywood’s repute.
tion, are scarcely zanier than those from other sources,
Letters to movie stars, to restaurants, to radio stations
department stores, beauty consultants and newspaper
columnists make up the bulk of the book. A few are
funny, some are objectionable as are many of the
accompanying illustrations. Suggestive allusions and
double-entendre are frequent. Although the book will
not injure adults there is no reason to recommend jt

either for style or content.

|

]
|

Y
previous colle

*

Hall, Geoffrey Holiday

Simon & Schuster. Dec. 9,

The End Is Known

1949. $2.00. (Inner

248p.

Sanctum Mystery).

The publishers say this is a first novel. It is a good
one. Though the opening situation which motivates
and directs the subsequent action is a fairly common
one, the twists the plot takes are ingenious, the pace
never falters, the suspense never sags, and the conclu.
sion is bang-up.

When a stranger threw himself from the apartment
window of Bayard Paulton, middle-aged department
store executive, his wife reported that she had thought
him one of the store’s employees when he said that
only Mr. Paulton could help him. In the hope that
his aid might still be of service to the dead man, Paul-
ton made contact with three individuals who had
known him in life.

There was Crazy Jessie Dermont who came from Mon-
tana to take the body back for burial. She said the
suicide had stopped at her restaurant one day and
been persuaded to stay the winter. And there was
“The Greatest Brain in the World” who had known
the dead man at a subarctic camp during the war.
Helen Marr had known both him and his wife, greedy,
cheating Peggy Landowski, at a Maine airfield. But
all had lost touch with him years before. None of
them—and certainly not Mr. Paulton—anticipated how
nearly the tragedy in the victim’s life would touch the
businessman’s life.
The author is a good reporter—the scenes of his novel
come alive through one or two descriptive touches
which the reader recognizes or considers illuminating.
The characters are well-conceived and plausible, with
rather more depth than one customarily finds in a
mystery story. While the murderer is exaggerated for
the effect the author wishes to achieve, the others are
well typed and convincing. Plot development is
smooth: the necessary pegs on which the plot hangs
are in their proper place, unobtrusive and credible.
Only the bitter taste in the author’s mouth seems a bit
young and raw.
Helen L. Butler, Ph.D.,
Department of Librarianship,
Marywood College,
Scranton, Pennsylvania

_——_-—

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