IN EARLY AMERICA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 9 (Supplement)

IN EARLY AMERICA

TRAVEL AND ADVENTURES Tli© new fashion for long novels is followed with outstanding success by Mr. Christopher Ward in his latest book, " The Strange Adventures of Jonathan Drew." It is a remarkably interesting story which, for all its five hundred pages and more, never once fails to hold the attention. Strange, indeed, are the adventures which befall Jonathan Drew, and even more remarkable are the people he meets during his travels in many of the Eastern and Western States of America in the years 1821-24. Never was a character created to whom the term " rolling stone " can be more aptly applied. Though but the son of poor people and a saddler by trade, Jonathan came of good, solid stock, and his early upbringing was of the best, his mother being a very fine woman. The death of his father when the boy was two years of age, was, perhaps, the reason for Jonathan's wandering life, but it is doubtful if his type coula ever have settled to the humdrum life of a journeyman saddler. Astounding as were the things ho did and the people he consorted with, Jonathan Drew seems ever to > have been the victim of circumstances, which got him entangled. While engaged in some of the most lawless enterprises he was not willingly callous or brutal, and he more than made amends for his lapses by kindly actions and whole-hearted generosity to those he came in contact with who were less fortunate than himself. In a short period of three years ho was horse thief, highwayman, hunter, farmer, coachman to a lunatic merchant in New York, owner of a mill, lieutenant to a travelling preacher, actor and rounder-up of a gang of murderers. Not the least interesting part of the story is the wealth o'f detail describing the life, manners and customs of the people of the Great United States of over one hundred years ago. A New Zealander reviewing the book cannot, of coui'se, vouch for the correctness or otherwise of the information, but the author certainly seems to " speak with authority." A publisher's note to the effect that some of the characters of the book are drawn from real people of the period is quite easy to believe. The long arm of _ coincidence is never stretched to the point that appears ridiculous, and all jthe people of the story actually live for the reader. Altogether, it is a book that can honestly be described as " something different " and therefore refreshing in the matter of recording life and adventure in an interesting period and setting. "The Strange Adventures of Jonathan Drew," by Christopher Ward. (Victor Gollancz, Limited.)